Silver Wings
by Axel Nightblazer
Summary: One year after the Venezian Neuroi Hive was destroyed. Peace is shattered by a malevolent, powerful new Neuroi hellbent on destroying everything that opposes it. They seem unstoppable, and even the Witches have lost hope...but will Yoshika remain idle even without magic?
1. A Reborn Nightmare

_August 3rd, 1945_

_St. Trond's base, Karlsland_

"Minna, shouldn't you finally take a break? You've been signing paperwork for hours now."

Minna Dietlinde Wilcke looked up and shook her head, with a resigned smile. "I have to finish it quickly. I wouldn't mind a break, but of course even the Neuroi being defeated in Europe wouldn't permit that."

"The sheer amount they put on you is unreasonable," Gertrud Barkhorn (better known as Trude) sighed. "Well…I suppose I'd better make myself useful." She picked up a stack of paperwork and a pen, and began to work on it herself.

They were several stacks into the paperwork when Minna found herself squinting and having to reach for a lamp…and then that made her realize something else. "Trude…does it seem unusually dark?"

"Now that you mention it…" Trude began to realize as well. "But why? It was supposed to be sunny weather."

Minna suddenly gasped. "Wait…!" She closed her eyes, and then the ears and tail of a wolf appeared on her body. A blue glow began to surround her.

"Minna?" Trude asked, getting worried. She sighed and looked out the window, at the black clouds. Something was wrong…_Black clouds?_ Trude thought with a start. Then she saw green lightning lace through the clouds at one point. "Oh no…"

Minna bolted up. "A Neuroi Super Hive is appearing over Karlsland! We have to get out of here immediately!"

"Abandon Karlsland? But-" Trude protested.

"There's nothing we can do, Trude," Minna insisted quietly but firmly. "I don't know why they appeared without us being able to sense something, but we need to leave. Karlsland has already fallen."

Trude's eyes hit the ground, despairing. "Damn…why are we powerless to do everything no matter what?"

"We _will _bepowerless if we don't move quickly!" Minna's voice suddenly became as cold and harsh as she could manage. Even so, her voice faltered slightly with the terror she was trying to mask. "Trude, please, we need to leave now!" Forgetting the paperwork entirely, she rushed out the door. Slowly beginning to move, Trude hurried after her.

* * *

><p><em>In the winter of 1945, only several months after the destruction of the Neuroi Super Hive over Venezia, the Neuroi launched another massive attack on Earth. The new Neuroi was ruthless, destroying even the Neuroi before them. They leveled anything they came across, and it was as if nothing existed once they had left.<em>

_Although most of the witches escaped, Karlsland and Romagna fell to the Neuroi quickly. One by one, all the other nations in Europe-Hispania, Suomos, Hispania, Gallia, Venezia, and even Orussia-fell to the Neuroi. Liberion experienced its first Neuroi attack, and fell quickly. Britannia took on the Neuroi alone, but suffered day after day to the point of despair. The new Neuroi's goal, it seemed, was the utter eradication of the human race._

_The Neuroi next set their eyes on the Fuso Empire, intent on destroying it. Though other Neuroi usually didn't attack Fuso because of the Fuso Sea Incident, the new Neuroi had the motive-and the power-to overrun Fuso. Hope, it seemed, was lost…_

* * *

><p><em>November 1, 1945<em>

_Yokosuka-Fuso Empire_

"Yoshika-chan! Please grab on!"

Miyafuji Yoshika reached out desperately at the branch her best friend was holding up, battling against the surging river. Her other hand held the brown and white ball of fur tightly to her head, refusing to let it fall into the current. "A bit further out, Micchan!" she shouted over the rush of water. Micchan held it out further, and Yoshika's hand finally wrapped itself around the wood.

Kicking her feet with all her might, she struggled towards the shore, Micchan pulling on the branch as much as she could. Eventually, Yoshika's hand extended and deposited the puppy onto the rocks. "You're safe," she sighed with relief.

"Yoshika-chan! Your hand!" Suddenly, her other hand slipped from the branch and Yoshika screamed, flailing wildly before catching onto the rocks with her hands and struggling to pull herself onto the rocks. Micchan now was sighing as well.

"That was scary," Yoshika laughed, looking back at the waterfall behind them. "But at least we got the puppy out!" She petted it, giggling softly.

Suddenly, they heard a blaring noise which struck terror into their hearts. "Is that an alarm?" Micchan gasped, looking up.

"But the Neuroi shouldn't have-!" Yoshika had no idea what to say. _They NEVER attack Fuso! What's going on? When did it get so clo- _Micchan interrupted her thoughts, grasping her hand and pulling her away. Yoshika reached out and grabbed the puppy just before it was too far out of her reach.

The two girls split up down the road, and Yoshika hurried back to her home, the Miyafuji clinic. Her mother and grandmother were looking very worried, and seemed thankful to know that Yoshika was back safely. "They've sent orders for everyone to evacuate," Yoshika's mother explained, pointing at their essential things that were already packed up. "We need to hurry. We can't travel so far on f-"

But she was interrupted by the sound of a truck roaring up the road. To their surprise, it pulled up straight in front of them. In fact, by the looks of it, it was a military-owned truck, driven by-

"S-Sakamoto-san!" Yoshika gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"There's still some time before the Neuroi arrives. In the meantime, I was asked to help with the evacuation." Mio took one of their bags and deposited it in the truck. "Is this all you need?"

"All our essentials are here," Yoshika's grandmother confirmed, then turned to Yoshika. "Do you need anything, Yoshika?"

Yoshika tried thinking about it, then suddenly remembered the one thing she _did_ need. Not that it would protect her life, but…"Uh…yes! I need to get one last thing!" She bolted back into the house without another word and rushed to her bedside, looking through all the books…_Here!_ She pulled out a black book with red lining. The text was in some Romagnan which she couldn't read, yet she held it tightly to her chest as she raced out and jumped into the shotgun seat. Mio was surprised at how little time she took, but the engine roared to life and the truck spewed up gravel as it ran, headed for the shelter.

* * *

><p><em>Above the Sea of Fuso<em>

"Aw, geez, we have to travel so far. Why did Fuso ask for such a thing?"

"But Yoshika-chan…she'd definitely come if we asked…well…I-I mean, she…would if she could…"

"Well, that's definitely true, but not all Fusoans are like Miyafuji, you know. Eh? W-why are you giving me that look? I-I didn't mean to be rude!"

"Whatever, keep pretending you don't care if you want. You're pretty bad at lying now, by the way."

"W-what?! Hey! YOU were the one who was complaining about how we had to travel so far!"

Wing Commander Minna Dietlinde Wilcke looked back at her bickering subordinates with a resigned smile, somehow happy to see them like so. _Just like the old days when…_Her happy thoughts were instantly interrupted when they darted to Captain Gertrud Barkhorn, who began to lecture her partner, Flight Lieutenant Erica Hartmann.

Remembering the old days when Trude rather hot-headedly berated her comrades for their conduct, it felt strange seeing her so quiet and simply telling Erica what a soldier should do, rarely raising her voice and often giving up on the subject. Erica didn't look the same, either, eyes much more attentive and darting around rather than half closed with unnatural amounts of fatigue. The moment Trude's voice started to rise in the slightest, she recoiled and silenced herself, flying a bit further away.

Her eyes continued to the two in the rear, Flight Lieutenants Eila Illmatar Juutilainen and Sanya V. Litvyak, both of whom were much more silent than before. Sanya looked very frail, as if she would fade into the sky at any moment. The moment she tried to speak, her words caught in her throat and halted in jumbles. Eila gave a wan smile of amusement every now and then, but her snide remarks rang without much heart. In fact, her insulting tone had mostly left her voice, and she was much more defensive with her words.

Then Minna gazed down at the blue ocean beneath them, trying to see her own reflection. When at last she could spot it, she tried to remember what she had been like back in the days of the Strike Witches. It took her so long to remember that she was startled. Today, it felt as though she would break apart at any moment after every fight, when she originally was very clear-minded in battle a year ago. _We've all changed so much…_

Try as she might to put on her mask of seriousness and calm, Minna found it wouldn't return, leaving her with a look of uncertainty still. _If we meet Mio and Miyafuji…what would they think? Would they still recognize us as the girls they fought the Neuroi alongside?_

* * *

><p><em>En route to the shelter<em>

They had been driving for ten minutes, but Mio decided she could and spared a glance at the precious book Yoshika refused to let go of. She recognized it immediately and began to ask why she went back for it…but she already knew the answer. "That's the photo album you got in Romagna, isn't it?" she asked.

Yoshika nodded, sparing a moment to open it and immediately smiling with the old memories. Lynne, Sanya, Barkhorn, Shirley, Perrine, Hartmann, Eila, Lucchini, Minna…it felt as though she had only just seen them, and yet it had been about a year. "I don't know when I'll see them again with the war going on…" She turned a page with a wistful look. "So that's why I came back for it." Neither her mother nor her grandmother seemed to be paying attention to their conversation.

Mio forced a smile herself. "I feel strange without them too," she admitted with a chuckle. "But…" Her voice trailed off as the unspoken taboo passed between the two which neither wanted to admit.

"Of course they'd be fine!" Yoshika finally insisted, although she immediately knew she was trying to convince herself, not Mio. "Well-" Her voice trailed off when she heard a loud explosion, felling multiple trees not too far away. "Is the fighting getting close?" she worried, looking up.

Mio wasted no time in spinning the wheel and turning back down the road, looking back and seeing the Neuroi surging through the sky, turning away to battle the Witches already in the area. It looked similar to some sort of bomb with rotors at the end. "Guess we have to take a detour!" The truck roared down another road, away from the Neuroi.

"How long have they been fighting? I didn't hear the alarms until thirteen minutes ago," Yoshika asked, looking back at the Witches with worry.

"Exactly that amount of time," Mio replied, looking at the built-in clock in the truck. "I heard Witches from Orussia already decided to come and reinforce us hours ago due to sightings of Neuroi bound for Fuso, but they still haven't arrived. It's hard to believe that they'll come in time."

"We could always check!" Yoshika insisted. Mio sighed and gestured to the radio with one hand, unable to take both off the wheel. Yoshika picked up the set and held it to her lips and ears…and heard nothing but static. "Eh? It doesn't seem to be working."

"That's strange. It was working earlier today," Mio murmured, turning another corner. "We'll be getting close to the shelter soon enough, though. We might not need it."

Yoshika stole a few more glances back, but couldn't see the Neuroi. "I hope we can make it safely," she said. What she didn't mention, though, was her worry that she couldn't see it anymore. It shouldn't have been able to disappear so fast…

* * *

><p><em>Above the Sea of Fuso<em>

"Try one more time to connect to them, Sanya-san."

"…I…I can't pick up anything... it's very…there's lots of static…I'm sorry…" Sanya felt the lump in her throat which never went away for long anymore. She coughed, but when she wanted to try again, she saw them conversing with each other and her voice faded away again.

Minna sighed and shook her head. "This is bad if we can't communicate. Stick together, everyone." She surged forward, and Captain Barkhorn and Hartmann followed.

Eila also began to speed up, but then looked back and halted. "Sanya, come on!" she demanded, trying not to be too forceful. Without a word, Sanya accelerated to fly alongside Eila, who took her hand with a reassuring smile. Sanya tried to smile back, but it was a hollow one that showed no true happiness. She was aware of this and tried to smile with more enthusiasm, but she found she couldn't, and turned away in shame. As if she knew exactly what Sanya was thinking, Eila flew to her other side and grinned. "Hey, it'll be alright! You don't have to worry, we'll just defeat the Neuroi like before!"

"Y-yes…" Sanya tried not to meet Eila's eyes, but she knew it was futile already. Eila already knew how she felt truly.

Eila's grin was melting away quickly, too. She pushed against Sanya's cheek with her other hand so the two were truly looking at each other. "And…if something goes wrong…" With an effort, Eila brought back her reassuring smile. "I'll protect you, okay? We'll go back to Orussia safely, no matter what."

"Eila…" Sanya felt her spirits lift a little, and a true smile blossomed on her face. "We're going in, okay?"

"Yeah," Eila agreed, as she let go of Sanya's hand and reached for her machine gun, while Sanya lifted the _Fleigerhammer_, her powerful rocket launcher. The two, keeping close to one another in the face of despair, prepared to fight against the source of it.

* * *

><p><em>Above Fuso Harbor<em>

Erica found her stomach beginning to growl, and her hand jerked instinctively towards it. Her muscles suddenly tightened, and her arm forced itself back to its original postion. Gazing at Trude and Minna, who respectively wore those faces of one who had submitted to despair and one who woke every day full of terror, she winced from her hunger pangs and tried to ignore them. Compared to the source of their problems, she knew a little hunger was insignificant. _I can't let them worry more…they have enough to worry about. They don't need to be concerned with an empty stomach._

Her eyes began to droop, and that began to bring alarm to her mind. Forcing them open once again, Erica pressed on, trying to keep up with Minna and Trude, who she was falling behind rapidly. Fatigue and hunger continued to rip at her body. _Keep going…keep going…keep…ugh…_Her Strikers' propellers began to falter, and Erica found herself beginning to sink lower and lower. Straining, she forced herself upward, already having lost the two ahead. "Can't…stop now…" Erica groaned through clenched teeth.

Sanya and Eila passed the trailing Erica, looking back with surprise. "H-Hartman-san…" Sanya reached back to offer a hand, words either completely unnecessary or not coming. If Eila thought something of it, she took no action other than an annoyed glance.

Erica reluctantly accepted the hand, knowing she was just putting strain on Sanya and Eila. _What's wrong with me?_ she wondered with disgust and sadness._ I've always been getting hungry and tired this fast. So why is this bothering me _now_? Shouldn't it have bothered me…I don't know, since Britannia?_

* * *

><p>A bit further ahead, Trude and Minna flew straight into the fight with the Neuroi. Some of the Witches already in battle noticed them and shouted out joyously that reinforcements had arrived. "No, don't thank us right now…focus on the Neuroi," Minna shouted over the ruckus. As if on cue, the Neuroi fired its beam weapons at the Witches, who scattered in panic. Minna instinctively raised her shield, but the beam crashed against it with more than enough force to shatter bones. The Wing Commander decided it was best to flee and left her shield to break, wincing from the shattering but avoiding the beam.<p>

Trude's guns leveled at the Neuroi, her eyes cold with the simple intent to kill. Both guns blazed, piercing into the Neuroi's armor and breaking through. The Neuroi fired, but Trude flew just past the attack as though it were nothing and continued to fire, coming dangerously close to the hull.

Minna ruefully watched as Trude continued her absurdly reckless attack. _She handles all of them like this now._ The Neuroi's beams activated again, but Trude only flew in another direction. As she flew alongside the Neuroi, she flipped one machine gun so she held it by the barrel, then swung it down upon the hull and cracking it wide open. Trude, eyes seemingly empty of any emotion, took aim-

Except her bullets rang through empty air. The Neuroi had disappeared, without a trace. Minna even felt it disappear from her Spatial Understanding, and looked around in shock and fear. "Where did it go?" she wondered. A moment later, she felt the Neuroi appear high above them…but it was a completely different shape, looking more like a spear with a rotating ring around its midsection connected to the main body by three arms. Beam panels were located on the nose and the ring, but they were hardly intimidating compared to the fact that it was hurtling straight down as if it were a suicide bomber. "Up there!" Minna shouted, pointing upwards, but to her dismay, the lack of radio connection made her go unheard by the panicking Witches. Gritting her teeth, the Wing Commander pointed her gun at the Neuroi and began to fire, drawing their attention as her bullets punched uselessly tiny holes in the hull.

More bullets suddenly punctured the armor from a different angle, followed by multiple rockets crashing into it and blowing massive holes into the hull. Minna spared a glance and saw that Erica, Eila and Sanya, having noticed the Neuroi through Sanya's antenna, were joining the fight. Eila, holding onto her gun with one hand and Sanya, whom Erica was also holding onto, with the other hand, avoided each of the beams with little effort while the other two focused on shooting and occasionally raising shields if they needed to. Minna breathed a sigh of relief for a moment…which was very short lived.

Though Trude and the others had also begun to shoot at it as well, the Neuroi cast beams down upon them-and Minna knew right away they were aimed specifically at _her_. _I can't use my shields anymore; the previous attack made that evident. But…_Glancing around, Minna noticed how many Fuso Witches there were around her, and found her heartbeat quickening with terror. _What if they get hit?_ Minna frantically flew upwards at the Neuroi, guiding its beams away from the group and shooting at it herself in what could be the most vulnerable position she let herself be in.

Suddenly, a stray bullet pierced through one of the wings on her Srikers. Minna cried out as she began to drop, and the Neuroi seized its chance while she couldn't fly properly and unleashed every one of its lasers upon her. Just before they struck, though, Eila swooped down, grabbed her and pulled clear of the beams. "And I thought you hated it when _we_ were being suicidal!" Eila shouted, gunning at the ring and puncturing it multiple times, but not enough to cause damage. Minna did not reply as she tried to control her flight, wondering why she didn't think to notice where her comrades' bullets were headed.

Erica, blue winds sweeping around her, ascended at maximum speed and crashed through the Neuroi, leaving a giant hole in it. She looked back in triumph…and then dismay as the Neuroi's armor reformed in a matter of seconds. The Neuroi changed course and began to chase Erica down, who desperately tried to shake it off as she fired away. Trude, chasing after the Neuroi and also shooting wildly, smashed through the hull numerous times with her tactic of using her guns similar to hammers, but it was all to no avail. Rockets shattered the ring, but Sanya was forced to flee before she would get shot as well.

Then it happened. Trude, accelerating, continued to fire at close range at the Neuroi, then dart away while its beams were preparing…and then suddenly a beam shot up just behind her, forcing her to change course again. Eila, with a surprised yelp, flew just over her, but just as Sanya was aiming, Trude slammed into her, sending both of them tumbling around wildly in front of the Neuroi, already charging its beams. Sanya attempted to raise her shield just before the Neuroi could hit her, and Erica dove right in front of Trude to block, but Sanya didn't have time to raise it completely, and it shattered, blowing her backward. The Neuroi made one final surge, the tip of the "spear" pointing straight at Sanya.

Minna gasped and shouted out, making a last ditch effort to shoot the Neuroi and divert its attention. Erica also tried the same tactic, but neither of them could knock it off course. Sanya was completely helpless to stop the Neuroi, and nothing could be done.

* * *

><p><em>Immediately underneath them<em>

A crash resounded in the forest ahead. Yoshika jumped in surprise and tried to look ahead. "What was that?" she asked, immediately beginning to fear the Neuroi had arrived.

Mio shrugged and continued driving. "We'll find out soon enough; we can't afford to take any more detours," she replied grimly. Trees were felled, and the ground littered with bullets. Fragments of Neuroi armor fell every now and then. From the looks of it, the battle was right on top of them. They couldn't stall any longer, not even for-The thought never completed itself when they turned the corner.

A black, long and streamlined object with red highlights, fins, a hole at one end, and propellers still extended had buried itself halfway into the earth, battered and dented. Not too far away was a mirrored version of it. But this one was placed on a human leg, having been knocked below knee level in the crash. The leg was covered by black tights, slightly torn from going through the leaves. The owner of these was wearing a black skirt, white shirt, a black tie and another black garment covering the area from her chest to her waist. Black cat ears poked from her silver hair, and a cat tail protruded from under her skirt.

Both Yoshika and Mio shouted in surprise. Her shirt now had a black collar, and her hair tumbled somewhat untidily down to shoulder length. But neither of them could mistake that it was Sanya V. Litvyak. "S-Sanya-chan!" Yoshika cried, jumping off the truck and running to her side.

Mio followed her off the truck. From the looks of it, she was unconscious, and had suffered wounds from the battle. "She wasn't hit directly by beams, but her shield definitely was broken," Mio observed, noting how serious some of the wounds were. "And…" Her expression darkened when she noticed the large red stain of blood on Sanya's abdomen, and the strange rupture created there. "This wasn't a _beam_, per se, but I think it was something even worse."

"We should take her to the shelter as well!" Yoshika declared, standing up.

Mio gave her a startled look. "Miyafuji, we might not make it in time if-"

"We _have_ to try!" Yoshika insisted, bending down again and lifting Sanya, her arms hooked underneath Sanya's. "Sakamoto-san, please help me with this!" She struggled along, letting one of the Orussian Strikers get dragged off as she went. Mio, beginning to argue some more, finally decided against trying to reason with her, and bent down to pick up one of the Strikers.

Yoshika's mother and grandmother, somewhat surprised by what was happening, helped her get Sanya into the back of the truck. "Please, can you treat her wounds?" Yoshika implored.

Both frowned doubtfully when they saw the one at Sanya's midriff. "We'll see what we can do," her mother finally promised. Yoshika smiled encouragingly and went to grab the other Striker, while the two attempted to heal Sanya as best as they could under the circumstances.

Finally, the truck roared back to life. Mio looked up warily at the battle going on, but she couldn't see anything clearly. The only thing she noticed was a Witch in blue rocketing around the Neuroi singlehandedly, firing with precise accuracy. "Only one? She can't possibly defeat it like that," she muttered doubtfully. While it didn't do anything for her conscience, she drove at full speed, knowing the enemy was occupied and couldn't follow them. _I hope they can take this one down,_ she thought.

* * *

><p><em>The aerial battle<em>

Seconds became eternities for Eila the moment she saw the effects of Barkhorn's blunder. Suddenly forgetting the Neuroi right beside her, she hurried towards the falling Sanya with arms outstretched. But without so much as a warning, her future sense triggered and she instinctively swerved-and found the _Fliegerhammer_ in her hands instead.

The sight of Sanya spiraling wildly to the ground, only just out of reach made Eila's eyes blur, and her body became rigid and immobile as she stared dumbfoundedly after the Orussian Witch. _H-how did this happen?! I tried to catch her! Why did I…_Then her stunned expression slowly transformed into one full of rage. At Barkhorn for being so stupid as to neglect where she was going, at the Neuroi for ruining all of their lives, at herself for not catching Sanya. And then Eila, suddenly having completely lost control of her anger, appeared right next to the Neuroi seemingly faster than light, poised only for killing blows.

No one expected her sudden change of tactics. Raising her machine gun, she let out a scream of pure rage as she pointed it at the Neuroi and began to fire with no end. Each one tore through the Neuroi's hull with deadly accuracy. With her abilities, Eila did not even begin to think about what would happen she would miss, only letting her instincts control her arm and never letting go of the trigger once. It was utter insanity combined with cold calculating.

The Neuroi, having noticed, changed course once again, all beams focused on Eila. She let herself move through the storm of red light towards the Neuroi again on her instincts, cursing the world with each shot. Ordinary bullets which were supposed to only scratch armor this hard were piercing through to several inches in. As she neared the hull, the Neuroi became more desperate and veered off to the left, only for Eila to whirl the _Fliegerhammer_ into its side, knocking it several feet off course, and pulling the trigger point blank. The force of the explosion sent her body flying like a rag doll, but as if either she was unscathed from the blast or just couldn't feel it, she hurtled after the plane with heightened vigor.

More bullets flew, and one of the tail fins went flying off, spiraling dangerously towards Eila's face. Moving just a tiny bit to her right, the fin barely missed her vitals, instead grazing her cheek. Wincing but still unyielding to pain, Eila watched the Neuroi careening towards earth towards the Witches, who all began to instinctively put up their shields. They were completely unsure of anything else they could do in the chaos, for Eila swooped in between the fury and continued to shoot, bullets and beams wildly flying around until the tail fin regenerated and the Neuroi flew back upwards, with Eila in hot pursuit.

None of the other Witches moved, all completely taken aback by the furious Suomos Witch who was only a wild cloud of blue around the Neuroi. They had never seen anyone fight with such ferocity. Eila only saw red in her fury, and while she could hear Minna screaming out orders repeatedly, they were incomprehensible to her, and might as well have been "Attack" as much as "Retreat" to her. She did not see any other Witches nearby, and she probably would not have cared even if they were in the paths of her bullets. They were very lucky she was letting her future sight control her aim-otherwise if she had been shooting wildly, they would not have survived.

Up and down, left and right. The bullets came from seemingly every angle. The Neuroi found its movements increasingly restricted, swerving frantically from one stream only to find its path blocked by a series of bullets from another side. As the Neuroi became more and more erratic with its motions, Eila found her swinging arm, shaking from the rattling gun and tightly gripping it with much pain, beginning to fall behind. With fury she forced more magic to it, forcing the pain and fatigue out just a little.

Suddenly, the gun clicked, letting her know it was out of bullets. Without even giving a thought to the full bandolier strapped around her torso, she almost casually threw it aside and pulled out a submachine gun from behind her back, if "casually" can be applied to her current mood. These tinier bullets penetrated just as deep into the hole carved into the surface of the hull by the explosion.

The Neuroi quickly converted to its original form, covering all the damaged areas, and fired its beams in a new pattern at the Witch, but once again Eila dodged the entire barrage. Even with much less armor exposed, she pointed the gun and blew away the armor to reveal the exposed portions once again, firing into them with rockets. Giant voids were left in the armor, which weren't as surprising when one considered the blast radius of the _Fliegerhammer's_ missiles…unless they had been watching a moment ago when a much calmer Sanya fired them herself.

The Neuroi desperately switched forms once again, knowing defense would not save it against this particular Witch, and attempted to teleport, but Eila already pointed the _Fliegerhammer _downward and let the missile fly, occupying the exact space of the plane the moment it appeared. The impact blew away the entirety of the ring and most of the armor. Eila's submachine gun flared again, dashing the rest of the armor at the nose long enough to give the _Fliegerhammer _enough time to reload and fire again, leaving the glowing red core exposed in midair.

With one final effort, Eila hurtled downward once again, the submachine gun thrown behind her, already out of ammo and useless. Aiming the _Fliegerhammer_, she prepared to fire all remaining rockets. Each one blasted through the regenerating armor with no mercy and ripped it to shreds before it could envelop the core again. Utterly desperate, the Neuroi, unable to move, tried to regenerate its beam panels for a final barrage, but Eila was rocketing at it head-on, too fast for the beams to focus correctly.

The hull was regenerating absurdly fast compared to before, but the Neuroi was weakening. It could do nothing as Eila raised both hands, gripping the _Fliegerhammer_ with a death grip to hold it in place, and smashed it through the remaining armor, crushing it entirely and pulling the trigger, letting loose the last rocket. This final explosion shattered the crimson crystal, and slowly, the entire plane turned white, dissolving into snow-like shards, disappearing into the wind as if they never existed.

Eila's shoulders heaved up and down, sweat dripping down the back of her neck. Her fingers, which shook as they still attempted to grip the rocket launcher with the strength of unyielding iron, finally reached her with their screaming pain, and she had to let go, allowing it to tumble into the trees. Shrapnel from the pierced armor and the _Fliegerhammer _rockets pierced her clothes in multiple places, throwing massive pain into her already exhausted body as the wind swept by.

Every muscle in her body now loosened to the point where she could only drift downward, unable to move anything without a searing pain. Her eyes couldn't focus anymore, and she could no longer recognize any of the figures she passed on her way down as anything but blurs. Nothing could be heard except the ringing of gunfire echoing through her ears. The slightest touch would cause her muscles to scream in pain. She could taste blood, and her throat and tongue felt sore.

However, she squinted and tried to restore her vision as much as possible, legs moving gingerly to send her back to the place she last saw her falling friend and comrade. "I…I'll be there…do…don't worry, Sanya," she croaked hoarsely.

* * *

><p>Moments later, Eila's eyes darted around, panicked. No matter where she looked, Sanya wasn't there. Only sickeningly luscious bushes, towering trees, and flat, unwelcoming dirt greeted her hazy vision. "I'm sure she landed here," she reassured herself breathlessly. "She shouldn't be far from me…"<p>

Minna descended from above the trees as Eila zipped through the trees once more. "Eila, that's enough. You're almost completely out of magic now," she ordered.

"But I still have to find Sanya!" Eila protested, flying off and clearly letting it be known that this was an order she was not following.

"You won't ever find Sanya if you're going to act like that!" Minna tried to reason, flying after her. "Just leave it to me, Erica and T-"

"DON'T SPEAK TO ME ABOUT BARKHORN!" Eila screamed, pivoting to glare at Minna with every bit of rage she had, causing the Wing Commander to backtrack in surprise and maybe even fear. "She's the reason why Sanya is…" Her voice cracked slightly, and her Strikers' propellers began to slow to a halt. Eila suddenly found herself sinking to ground, unable to continue even her words.

Minna caught her and began to fly back to Fuso Harbor, carrying the exhausted Suomos Witch on her back. "I don't sense Sanya anywhere around here," she informed her, a bit ashamed about her rather tactless handing of this information. "We'd best get _you_ back to base."

"B-but…Sanya…" Eila groaned, wanting to tear away from her Wing Commander. However, she didn't even have the strength to ascend an inch.

"Then I promise you _I'll_ find her," Minna reassured her. "Just have a rest, okay?"

Eila found her eyelids becoming heavy, and finally had to close them. Then she finally fell into a deep sleep…

* * *

><p><em>At the shelter that night<em>

Yoshika's eyes were fluttering open and closed, trying to stay awake. Her knees hurt after kneeling for so long, and it was very dark out. Even the extremely comfortable bed she was resting her head and arms on was opposing her. All the same, she fought groggily against her sleepiness.

On the bed, upon fluffy pillows and under soft blankets, Sanya lay unconscious still. Her wounds were fully treated, but she hadn't woken up for hours. Both Mio and her mother had convinced her to leave the room, but Yoshika insisted on staying with Sanya just to make sure she was alright.

Yoshika began to wonder if she should lay down as well, and finally her heavy eyelids began to shut…and suddenly she saw Sanya's open, confused and exhausted. "Sanya-chan! You're awake!" Yoshika cried happily, bolting up and forgetting her fatigue.

Sanya blinked several times, the same blanket of confusion over her eyes. "Y…Yoshika-chan…?" she asked, beginning to pull herself upright but wincing in pain from her injury. "What are you…I mean…where am I? A-and…um…where's Eila…?" She rubbed her eyes, finally just laying down again.

"Eh? Eila-san?" Yoshika was surprised to hear this question, before remembering that the two usually were found in the same general area. "I don't know…sorry."

"And…the Neuroi…w-was it defeated? A-and…did everyone…" Sanya suddenly faltered and found she couldn't finish the last sentence.

"Did everyone what?" Yoshika asked, starting to worry about her. _When did Sanya start stuttering like this?_ "Sanya-chan, is something wrong?"

Sanya finally swallowed hard, and blurted out the question she wanted to, but didn't have the courage to say. "Did everyone survive?"

"Well, um…I didn't hear if anyone died," Yoshika replied sheepishly. "But the Neuroi was destroyed. One Witch…I don't know who…tried to take it on all by herself!" Sanya looked to be somewhat relieved, but not entirely. "So what happened to you?" Yoshika asked, looking down at Sanya's bandaged midriff.

Sanya looked down at the bedsheets, as though she weren't entirely sure what happened. "Well…um…I don't know…I mean, we were shooting at the Neuroi…and then…I…I'm sorry, I don't know what happened…something rammed me, and then…I brought up my shield to block a beam…but it broke…after that, I think I saw the Neuroi coming at me…and then I don't know…."

Yoshika did not ask for any details after that. A question was nagging in her mind. Despite being just a bit taller than her, the Orussian Witch seemed very small in the bed. Her pale skin almost seemed transparent now, and she seemed even more reserved than before Yoshika had come to be her friend. At any moment, it seemed as though Sanya would fade from existence. _What happened to her?_

The silence was broken when Sanya found the courage to speak once again. "…um…you…you stopped writing to m-to us in August…"

"Eh…heh heh…" Yoshika scratched the back of her head guiltily. "Well, the Neuroi invaded then, right? I didn't hear where your new address was…since…" Her smile faded when she found herself unable to finish. The town Sanya and Eila had been staying in before the Neuroi invaded had been destroyed towards the beginning of the war. To bring that up would be spraying salt on open wounds.

"…o-oh…" Sanya's face reddened a little and she shrank under the blanket some more. "…sorry…I didn't have time to write…not when I…had to…"

She didn't finish, because Yoshika was asking another question already. "How has the fighting been?"

Sanya's eyes downcast immediately. "…we're…doing badly. We…we haven't been able to even hold our ground…for a month…even the five of us are powerless…"

"Five?"

"C…Commander Minna, Captain Barkhorn and Flight Lieutenant Hartmann…they're also with us…"

"Eh? They're all in Orussia?!"

"…well…they're in Fuso as well right now…we all decided to come…communication to the High Command has been…no, all radio communications haven't been working…we're not really sure what we can or should do." As she talked, Sanya seemed to be getting slowly absorbed by the bed.

"It sounds really bad…" But Yoshika knew that didn't begin to describe half of it.

Tears began to well up in Sanya's eyes as she descended further into her despair which she had been so quiet about before. "It feels like…at any second…everyone will-"

"But no one's died yet!" Yoshika protested, hoping to raise Sanya's mood again. "That's what matters, right?"

Sanya, somewhat caught off guard by Yoshika's cutting in, was left a stuttering wreck, and then finally gave up and settled back, the bed pulling her in just a bit more. She gave Yoshika a faint smile, though the melancholy did not leave one bit. "…you haven't changed much…thank goodness."

"Eh? But I grew a bit taller!" Yoshika immediately replied, not understanding.

Sanya would've gone on, when she suddenly looked at the clock and let out a small gasp. "Oh…oh my…I-I've been keeping you up…sorry, Yoshika-chan…you should probably go rest…"

"What? N-no! I'm not tired at all!" Yoshika insisted, although she was beginning to really feel tired almost immediately, and her head and eyes were getting seemingly heavier by the second. She slowly lowered her head onto the bed and closed her eyes…and her mind began to drift away.

But not completely, while a ghost of a girl lay clinging her hand dearly as if it were the one thing keeping her from disappearing into the black night.

* * *

><p><em>Fuso Harbor<em>

Minna took one last look back at Eila, who laid on a rather firm bed, completely unconscious yet sleeping with a dismal expression, hair splayed wildly across the pillows and limbs curling closer towards her body in a fetal position. The Wing Commander watched with a fleeting hope that Eila would sleep peacefully even in her current mental state, then exited the room, quietly shutting the door.

Outside, Trude and Erica were standing in the hallway waiting for her. "So how is she?" Erica asked, keeping her voice down yet very clearly worried.

"Her magic energy is completely depleted. She won't be able to fight for the next few days," Minna informed them dejectedly, shaking her head. "And…did either of you find Sanya?"

"I didn't see her," Erica sighed. "Trude, you?" Trude did not meet either of their gaze, but simply shook her head without words, the other two taken slightly aback by her estrangement. Erica began to slowly bend down to meet her gaze, but suddenly shuddered and returned to standing straight up.

"I see." Minna's own words rang hollow to her from the coldness of them and how she truly felt. It was very apparent Erica knew more about her current thoughts than she was letting on. "W-well then…" Minna's voice cracked slightly but shockingly. This was the first time someone under her command had gone missing, not counting the time Miyafuji went AWOL, and even then she did so under her own volition, without them understanding anything about her. What she was dealing with now was different entirely. Sanya was clearly hurt, and they were unable to do anything.

"We're running out of magic so we can't search anymore tonight…" Erica lamented.

"T-That's right. And the Neuroi might attack again at any moment, so we can't use up all of it so that we're unable to fight it off," Minna added. The painful words finally had to be said, so she forced them up, sounding unusually high-pitched and quick. "So we can't spend any more time searching for Sanya."

"We can't even spare a moment to know if she's dead or not…" Erica dropped to the ground, back flopping against the wall dully. "Haven't we gone through enough already?" Her voice rising in frustration, Erica continued to complain. "We've seen city after city destroyed, we've seen soldier after soldier shot down, and now we can't keep even one comrade alive? What is _wrong_ with us?"

"The Neuroi have no scruples. These ones wouldn't spare even one Witch," Minna attempted to calm down Erica with words she didn't quite believe herself.

"I know that!" Erica screamed with that seemingly fatigued voice which comes from impatience, causing Minna to jump back a little from this new outburst. "We knew that from the start! So why didn't we protect Sanya better? Or you? Or Eila?" It was worth noting she didn't bother to mention herself. "If we can't save even _one_ Witch, how are we supposed to defeat the Neuroi?"

"It's pointless to protect someone from today's terrors only so they can be lost to tomorrow's." Minna and Erica almost found their blood freezing from these words that came from Trude, and they could only stare with wide eyes as she disappeared down the hallway, not sparing a glance backward. They were so stunned that they couldn't even continue speaking about the subject and disappeared from the hallway, turning in different directions without a word back to one another.

* * *

><p><strong>What is with me and rewrites? I did some in ALL THREE STORIES.<strong>

**After watching the 2012 **_**Strike Witches**_** movie, I remembered the reasons why I loved the series****so much, and instantly got back to work on this story. It seems to have mostly replaced **_**Bleach**_** in my interests, and not because of the fanservice. It's rather odd, but **_**Strike Witches**_** is an unusually heartwarming story. Those girls risk their lives day to day for the sake of the world and each other. And above all else, it emphasizes caring for your comrades.**

**I'm sad to say, though, that this story assumes the movie never took place. Several things may be completely ripped off from the movie, and other things are just the movie with some extra polish. (For me, the final fight was just so short it was heartbreaking. You won't see that here.)**

**This story is a bit more depressing as far as I'm concerned than either of my other stories. The original **_**Strike Witches**_** was a touching story, but it didn't have such a sad story as this, when here, no one knows what to do and everyone is demoralized to the point where they have "broken" already…**

**Also, bad news for some people out there that have different tastes from mine: Lynne, Perrine, and Lucchini will most certainly not be physically appearing in this fanfic. (I don't really care for them, but other people...)**

***thinking* wtf why does my writing give me feels? T_T**


	2. The End of Hope

_November 2, 1945_

_Fuso Harbor_

The tension hadn't diffused any overnight, Erica realized with dismay as she ate.

Sanya was still missing, and Eila hadn't woken up at all. Trude, as usual, didn't speak or make eye contact. Minna only gave a half-hearted, hurried greeting without stopping.

Because she had woken up late, she was to eat breakfast alone, as everyone else needed to be on patrol or whatever business. And Erica felt incredibly lonely, staring at only empty chairs when distress and fear hung above her head like a guillotine. Her stomach growled loudly, but Erica herself almost had to force the food down her throat. She felt too depressed to enjoy the meal fully.

There was no one to make her feel better about any of these problems, either. The only people she normally could turn to for comfort were unable to provide her with any at the moment. Any friendly face would be much appreciated at this point. But none was there to meet her. She'd gladly give anything for someone-even Miyafuji to show up and at least make her feel a bit better about her life…she _did_ have that uplifting effect. Despite being in her home country, though, Erica knew well the chances of running into her were one in a million.

Her plate was only half-empty, but she already felt as though she had ate too much. Erica stood up and left, not bothering to clean up. "Back to work," she muttered sullenly, the door sliding shut behind her with a dull thud.

* * *

><p><em>At the shelter<em>

Yoshika's eyes cracked open to an unfamiliar room. She sat up, rubbing her eyes with confusion, wondering where she was. "I don't remember this place…" she mumbled, looking around.

Then suddenly, she heard a soft moan, and then a pair of arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her back down into the bed, pulling her closer to someone else in the bed. Turning her head back, she saw a mess of pale silver hair press against her back. Recognizing her immediately as Sanya, everything came back to Yoshika in seconds. "That's right…the Neuroi attacked yesterday…"

The question as to why the Neuroi attacked Fuso after such a long absence was still a haunting question, but Yoshika sadly remembered that her magic had disappeared not even three months ago. _It's outside my power to do anything…_ She gently pushed through Sanya's arms, climbing out of the bed. Deprived of her makeshift hugging pillow, Sanya's limbs crumpled into a fetal position, her closed eyes seeming to plead for someone to take Yoshika's place. Seeing Sanya like that made Yoshika even more dismayed, watching a friend and ally suffer from something she couldn't see. _Without my magic, is there any way I could help her? At all?_

Her lament was interrupted when the door creaked open, revealing Sakamoto. "You're awake already? Surprising," she commented, eyebrows raised. It was still strange seeing Sakamoto not wearing her eyepatch, but she obviously didn't need it anymore since that incident in Romagna had cost not only Yoshika's magic energy, but also Sakamoto's. "I didn't expect you to be in Sanya's room, either."

"I stayed last night to make sure she was alright, remember?" Yoshika reminded her. "She woke up, too…but I didn't stay awake long enough to head back to my room." Sakamoto seemed somewhat relieved from hearing Sanya had woken up, but Yoshika noticed she was tenser than normal. "Sakamoto-san, is something wrong?"

"Yes. The Witches that arrived from Orussia report that the Neuroi have prepared a full siege on Fuso. It will practically be upon us by now," Sakamoto affirmed grimly. "I need to go and fight on the front lines again." Yoshika gave her a bewildered look, but Sakamoto gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I don't need magic this time to fight. I'll do everything I can to keep you and Sanya safe."

She began to turn to leave, but Yoshika caught her by the hand, prompting the Squadron Leader to turn back for just one moment. "Sakamoto-san, one more thing! Commander Minna, Barkhorn-san, Hartmann-san, and Eila-san are all here as well!"

"Minna?!" Sakamoto was startled to hear all those names being mentioned, particularly the first. "They came all the way to Fuso?"

Yoshika nodded. "So if you see them, tell them Sanya's alright, okay?"

"Right, I'll pass that on to them," Sakamoto replied, giving her a thumbs up and a confident grin, then with a hurried walk she was out.

* * *

><p><em>30 minutes later<em>

A plate sat next to Sanya's bed with her breakfast on it, but she still hadn't woken up. Yoshika, sitting nearby, was looking through a book, writing some things down. She had decided she'd best just keep studying for her medical classes.

A jumble of facts for random medical conditions surged violently through her head, forcing her to close the book. She had fallen so far behind due to needing fight the Neuroi for the past two years that she couldn't make heads or tails of anything she read anymore. It felt so annoyingly frustrating, and no matter what she tried, it seemed she wasn't making any progress. Collapsing against the side of Sanya's bed with a large exhale, Yoshika tossed the book to the side, attempting to clear her mind.

Suddenly, there was a familiar twinkling sound, but when Yoshika turned, she found her blood running cold. Sanya, brow furrowing, was glowing with a blue light, her familiar features appearing as well as her antennae-but it was flashing red! That only meant that…

* * *

><p><em>Above Fuso Harbor<em>

Minna and Erica closed the magazines of their guns with worried looks. "We're practically already out of ammo now," Erica sighed.

"We can't keep using our normal guns; they don't supply the ammo for those here. Eila's remaining ammo was too damaged with all those close range explosions, so we can't use it, and Trude consumes more ammo, so we can't exactly take hers. Let's see if they'll lend us some Fuso arms later," Minna decided. "Back to the watch, though. Let's wait on getting new guns until the end of the day." Erica nodded, and the two flew in different directions.

Presently, the calm waters of the sea suddenly began to ripple, catching Minna's attention. The next thing she knew, a raging torrent had burst into the air, revealing a Neuroi! This one was a streamlined, elongated shape, without any visible wings but was somewhat flattened out in shape. It was clearly intended for high-speed combat, though, given how fast it came bearing down on her.

This time there was no Eila to tear the Neuroi apart. How she managed to kill the previous Neuroi so quickly was still a mystery, but Minna found herself almost completely overwhelmed as the Neuroi almost ended up flying circles around her as she tried to escape. One bullet met its mark and penetrated deeply, but that was the only one that met its mark. It was only thanks to her ability that Minna could stay one step ahead of the beams, being able to reason out which way the beams would fire.

Other Witches began to notice as well, but Minna once again fought by herself, moving the Neuroi away from the base. This time, she was doing her best to pay better attention so she didn't get hit by a stray bullet again, but it was impossible to fight alongside the other Witches. From the looks of it, most of them were inexperienced, while the veteran fighters had gone to fight in other parts of the world. It seemed impossible to get them to cooperate with her. Trude…was another case entirely.

Erica finally managed to catch up to Minna and fired numerous bullets at the Neuroi, again scoring literally no hits. Unfazed, she powered up her _Sturm_ ability and tried to shear through it, but the Neuroi barely managed to evade. "It's too fast!" Erica shouted, trying to get a good shot at it but unable.

"Neither of our Strikers are fast enough to match its speed," Minna noted, watching the Neuroi vastly outdistance Erica as it swooped back towards land.

"Trude's not too far away. Should we get her?" Erica suggested, getting ready to turn in that direction.

"Would she be any help?" The words seemed hollow to Minna, and she felt somewhat confused as to if she really said it and meant it. Erica's face was one of shock and dismay, but Minna ignored her and kept up the attack. The last thing she wanted to think about was the frozen, estranged lady who she had once called her friend but could no longer truly bear that name.

Mio kicked open the door to the hangar, revealing a biplane with a green finish and multiple red highlights behind the cockpit and on the skis on the bottom. Making sure she was loaded with enough bullets, she gunned the engine, and flew at once in the direction that she saw the Witches fighting the Neuroi. She was completely sure about the only two who were battling it, and that was only more incentive to join.

Grabbing the gun and pointing it carefully, she shot at the Neuroi. As predicted, it dodged her attack, but Minna's bullets crashed head-on into it. _She discovered its strategy already. As expected of her._ Mio smiled as she flew by, giving Minna and Erica a thumbs-up before sweeping back for another attack. The stunned expressions on their faces were hilarious to behold.

"…wait, was that just the Squadron Leader?" Erica asked dumbfoundedly. The screech of the Neuroi snapped her back to reality, and she fired off some more rounds barely in time to send it off course.

Mio's familiar laugh echoed through the sky. "Who else do you think it'd be?" she replied, taking aim once more and sweeping at it from another angle.

Again, the Neuroi dodged, but by now it was evident Minna had planned out something. "Erica, give me your MP40!" she shouted, beginning to fire a small burst of bullets. Erica unstrapped the submachine gun from her back and tossed it over, Minna catching it perfectly, and the Neuroi had only barely begun to change directions when she fired again with the MP40, forcing it to spiral downward again. "Mio!" Minna ordered, and Mio pulled the trigger, sending it up into the air. Erica raised her gun to fire as well, but was stopped when Minna shouted, "Not yet!" Then Minna pointed her MG42 (the gun she normally wields) and fired again, causing the Neuroi to continue changing course.

As Minna continued to shout orders, Mio began to wonder what she was doing, seeing no damage on the hull…until she noticed the Neuroi had literally maneuvered itself straight into Erica. Its speed carried it directly into Erica, who activated _Sturm_ and tore through it, leaving it to shatter into ivory dust.

Minna and Erica flew up to Mio's plane seconds later. "Hey, Squadron Leader! How have you been?" Erica asked cheerfully and so casually it was as if they had seen each other the other day.

Minna's attempt at a proper greeting was a bit less smooth, despite the fact that a few seconds ago, she had been commanding the other two with great proficiency. "M-Mio…it's been so long…um…" Finally, she composed herself enough to put on a look of annoyance. "What are you doing still trying to fight on the front lines? Did you still learn nothing?"

Mio shrugged. "What can we say? Someone has to be there if the Witches aren't, right?"

"E-even so! There are other non-Witch forces in Fuso, I'm sure!" Minna continued to try to argue.

"The Fuso Navy isn't exactly here to save the day," Mio noted, looking down at the empty sea. "But I'm sure with help from the five of you, we'll be able to withstand the invasion. There's nothing a Witch can't do, after all!"

Erica and Minna began to smile at that, but then suddenly Erica realized something. "Wait, what do you mean, 'the five of us'? How did you k-"

Minna's eyes widened all of a sudden, and the conversation was cut short. Her head pivoted in another direction. "Right there-! Another Neuroi's coming!"

Mio followed her gaze and cursed. "It's heading for Miyafuji!"

* * *

><p><em>The shelter<em>

No sooner had Sanya's eyes opened than she began to push the covers away, lifting herself up. "Oh, no! Sanya-chan, you're not going to fight the Neuroi, are you?" she heard Yoshika gasp.

Every muscle in Sanya's body felt limp, but she continued to rise nonetheless. "The Neuroi… it's t-too close to us…backup probably won't c…um…have time to come. Yoshika-chan…I'm the only one…who can buy enough time…" She took one step out of bed-and immediately stumbled, being saved from a rough fall by Yoshika's catch.

"You see? You can't go out there like that!" Yoshika insisted.

It made Sanya feel better knowing Yoshika was so concerned for her, but she knew she couldn't answer to this wish. "I'm…sorry…" With these words, she pushed away Yoshika's hands, limping out the door. "But…Yoshika-chan…y-y-you'd…" When Yoshika tried one more time to pull her back, Sanya tore her arm away, but her sad, gentle smile didn't leave her face. "You'd do the same…for any one of us…"

Forcing her body to move quickly, she ran away from the protesting Yoshika and out of the shelter, finding her Strikers in a room next to the entrance conveniently, as well as a number of machine guns for defending the shelter if worst came to worst. The Strikers were battered and worn from yesterday's battle, but they would have to do. She pulled them on, as a blue magic circle similar to a ship's wheel emitted from the ground underneath her. The next moment, she was off.

The Neuroi's frequency was coming from the earth just in front of the shelter. Hands trembling from the seemingly 100-ton machine gun, Sanya aimed it down at the Neuroi, ready to fire. Once again, she didn't feel certain she could win, but this time, not only were many people's lives on the line, but Yoshika's as well. Eila and the others were not there to help her. She _had _to win this. There could be no failure.

With a shower of earth, a Neuroi identical to the one she had fought the previous day appeared, changed form to its "attack configuration," and unleashed a hailstorm of red light upon Sanya. She raised her shield to block the beams, but only one volley shattered it, sending her tumbling backwards. The gun almost slipped from her grip, but she barely managed to hold onto a strap attached to it, and lifted it back into her hands, firing off several rounds as quickly as she could. The Neuroi just about ignored them and came towards her, intending to ram her, but Sanya barely managed to avoid.

Her antennae flickered, trying to perceive where the core was, but unable to. _I'll have to shred through the entire plane with everything I have,_ she thought grimly. Another volley of beams flew at her, which she narrowly avoided, and she began to fire back at the midsection of the plane, breaking its armor open but revealing no core. What she wouldn't give for incendiary or armor piercing ammo at this point.

The Neuroi continued to fly about, with Sanya having almost no advantage save for her small size. Her Strikers could no longer reach top speed, nor would they change directions as easily as they once did. They had taken too much damage to function easily. Her shield was practically useless; that first barrage had proved that easily. A magical antenna did not really give her much advantage, either; being able to track the enemy's movements and reason out their path was nothing like Eila's prediction ability. Searching her brain frantically for any ideas, the beams came closer and closer to slicing her in half.

Finally, Sanya desperately fired upon the beam panels on the nose of the Neuroi to give herself a brief reprieve from the assault. She miscalculated by just a little, as they pierced the area beyond the beam panels...but she caught a flash of red from the area she just shot. "Was that the core just now?" she wondered breathlessly, but it was obscured from sight the next instant.

The Neuroi rotated so the holes in the armor were no longer facing Sanya, meaning she couldn't use them as a target anymore. It began to fly in wild patterns, but Sanya already sensed its changing trajectory, and with careful aim and precise calculations, several bullets were aimed so finely at the Neuroi's path that it had to swerve again to minimize the damage. Its beams surged, giving Sanya an even harder time as she now had to account for her own movement. But one, two more bullets eventually shattered the hull, and while the Neuroi was beginning to turn again, Sanya flew the other way to the holes it had just turned back to her, forcing them wide open.

And so it continued, with the Neuroi trying to maneuver its weak points away from Sanya as she hurled everything she could at the ones that were just exposed. Finally, some bullets crushed the remants of the thin armor, and Sanya could see the core again. "There!" she shouted, firing one last round…

But then the Neuroi transformed into its original, defensive form, obscuring the core completely. Sanya groaned in dismay, knowing that the thicker armor had just rendered everything she just did null. Sensing the Neuroi was setting itself on a crash course for her, she got ready to bring up her shield, only to find the Neuroi focusing all its beams right before its nose. She had to move quickly before it crushed her. Only too late did she realize where it was going to crash because she dodged.

With a triumphant screech, the Neuroi hurtled along in a crazy _kamikaze_ charge, all its firepower ready to be discharged. "_NO!_" Sanya screamed in horror, but her gun clicked harmlessly, the barrel a bright orange, the rest of the gun hot from its radiance. Throwing it aside, Sanya hurled herself upon the Neuroi with the last desperate tactic she could afford to use. Her hands glowed with a bright blue aura, and she gripped the Neuroi's hull for dear life, slamming her hands repeatedly into its nose and discharging raw magical energy into it. She was sure she heard a bone-splitting crunch multiple times, but she ignored it.

Red veins under the armor began to pulsate red and blue with the clashing energy, while the charged shot began to spin out of control. The Neuroi, reacting negatively to the discharge of foreign energy, found its energy lines cracking and bursting, sending energy wildly everywhere. Impenetrable armor cracked and fragmented in an instant. Meanwhile, the gathered energy at the nose suddenly began to shine with a shred of blue light every now and then, until it began to shred randomly through the earth, through Sanya's body, and the Neuroi itself. The core was ripped to pieces in an instant, and the Neuroi let out a despairing screech as it faded from existence, dissolving into nothing.

Sanya's limp body fell straight to the ground, bouncing across it like some discarded plaything. Her thoughts were wildly racing around, unable to savor her victory over the pain. It felt as though her arm and leg had been sawed off, and she couldn't feel half of her face. The moment she stopped skidding across the barren, unwelcoming ground, it seemed she could feel nothing at all.

"Sanya-chan!" she heard a voice scream, but she didn't even have the energy to turn and face that person. She almost couldn't even register that she had heard it at all. The winner of this fight was Sanya Litvyak, but she was not in any state to claim herself as the survivor as well. It all felt starkly clear: she would fade from existence within the hour. "Sanya-chan…!" Yoshika's cry from a seemingly thousand miles away felt as though it were coming closer, and Sanya was able to numbly feel her frail body rolled over, probably to face Yoshika.

There was a gasp of horror. And then a stammering that felt as though it were to reassure the one who said it rather than the one it was being said to. "I-it'll be alright, Sanya-chan! I'll take you inside and get Mom and Grandma to heal you…"

"I don't know if I'll last that long…" Sanya could barely even mouth the words, but apparently they were heard judging from Yoshika's panicked inhale. She heard Yoshika try to protest some more, but there was no time for that. Her vision was blackening; some big spots were appearing in her eyes that she could no longer see through. The only thing left to be done was to request something in case she never woke up again.

"_Tell Eila…I'm sorry…"_

* * *

><p>The silence of dread set in. Yoshika's hands, red with Sanya's blood shook as she stared at them. One of her friends had set her life on the line for Yoshika's sake, and now she was dying on the ground when Yoshika had done nothing to help.<p>

The burning guilt in her chest and the horror of looking at Sanya's broken body roared through her mind. While she struggled to deal with these feelings, the red on her hands seemed to glow brighter. Was this the feeling of going insane?

Then she remembered the last words Sanya said. "Tell Eila I'm sorry." The only thing this meant was both unfeelingly obvious and

Nearby, she heard the sound of rotors, but didn't have the mental strength to look up at all. There were a few horrified gasps after that, and then several utterances of Sanya's name. The only thing that came to her mind, though was to cling to Sanya's body even harder.

Finally, a hand rested on her shoulder. Yoshika flinched initially, but looked up at the owner of that hand-it belonged to Minna. She looked like she wanted to say something to reassure Yoshika, but no words came out, and tears could even be seen forming. Not far behind, Sakamoto and Hartmann stood behind with their heads bowed.

Finally, Yoshika lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry…I couldn't do anything…for Sanya…" Her voice came out unusually high-pitched for whatever reason.

"It wasn't your fault this happened, Miyafuji-san…" Minna's words felt somewhat hollow, and Yoshika certainly didn't feel convinced. "We should have established more guard inland; we _knew _about the Neuroi's tendency to burrow underground now…it was an oversight I made."

"C-can anything be done for Sanya-chan now, though…?" Yoshika stammered, slowly lowering the Night Witch to the ground. A lone glimmer of hope ran through her eyes, just on the verge of despair.

Minna's eyes closed for a moment as the blue aura of magic surrounded her, then opened her eyes with absolute hopelessness. "Nothing will work. Not even your healing magic if you still had it. She's just taken too much internal damage…"

Yoshika's eyes went wide with panic and horror, but then Sakamoto walked up with a determined look on her face-that "all or nothing" look, to be precise. "I have _one_ idea. But I can't guarantee it will work. Will you trust me on this?" Minna and Yoshika nodded vigorously. "Alright. You're familiar with the concept of ley lines, aren't you?"

A confused look appeared on Yoshika's face, but Minna nodded. "They're practically the veins for magic energy through the world. Are you saying…?"

"Yeah. There's one area with many ley lines leading to it. The concentration of magic there is so high…we might be able to preserve Sanya's life for just a bit longer," Mio reasoned out. "Also, in the presence of those ley lines, healing magic should be enhanced enough to heal her injuries."

"Where is it?" Yoshika asked, standing straight up.

Mio looked somewhat grim. "Ryuudou Temple, on _Enzousan_ (Mt. Enzo). That's a bit far away from here, though…if only we could fly…"

Suddenly, the intercom crackled, and Minna, Mio and Hartmann gasped as they heard what was coming. "It looks like we don't have a lot of time…" Minna sighed, before returning to her composed face. "Erica, please escort Miyafuji-san to Ryuudou Temple. We will go back to dealing with the Neuroi."

"Okay! You can count on me!" The serious look on Hartmann's face was a full 180 from her carefree face as Yoshika remembered it. She didn't have much time to think about this, though, as Hartmann picked up Sanya and placed her gently in the shotgun seat of a truck while Minna and Mio took off again. "Miyafuji, you can drive, right?"

"Uh…a bit," Yoshika replied, getting in quickly. Just in case, she picked up the gun Sanya had dropped, grimacing from its unfamiliar heaviness. This time, she thought to herself, she wouldn't just sit by idly. What happened to Sanya would not happen to Hartmann as well.

"Okay! Let's go!" Erica put her Strikers back on and took off, while Yoshika started driving as fast as possible without causing further harm to Sanya.

* * *

><p><em>25 minutes later<em>

Erica had stowed her intercom away. It was a very poor decision, because if the other Witches needed help, she couldn't hear…but the screams of terror that she heard on the other end were just too much for her to keep listening to. Her stomach actually was starting to feel upset by now, but she continued to force it down and pay attention to which routes Miyafuji was taking.

She sort of wanted to fly lower and talk with Miyafuji just to calm her nerves, but that was a bad idea strategically; she had to be able to survey a wide area in case the Neuroi attacked. And Miyafuji didn't have an intercom, so they couldn't talk from long distance. Besides, trying to talk about recent events would be painful, considering every day was practically riddled with failure…_Wait, when did I start caring about this strategic stuff? _Erica groaned and put a hand on her forehead, wondering if she had over-exhausted herself.

By now, they should have already arrived at Ryuudou…just as Erica was wondering just how slowly Miyafuji was driving, she noticed that the top of the mountain they were nearing was adorned with a vermilion _torii_, signaling that they were there. "Ah, finally," she murmured to herself. Of course, the relief that they had arrived was quickly dashed when she noticed how many stairs lay between Yoshika and the _torii_. Down below, it looked like Miyafuji was panicking over this as well.

Erica was preparing to swoop down and pick up Sanya, but suddenly halted when she felt a strange trembling of the air around her. She didn't know where, but her instincts screamed that a Neuroi was nearby. Her eyes darted around wildly in search of the enemy, but it wasn't visible anywhere…which probably meant it was underground, and therefore unable to be pinpointed without any magic that could be used for detection. As Erica had none of that, she had no choice but to wait for it to appear…

* * *

><p>The climb up the stairs of Ryuudou Temple was painstakingly slow. Yoshika had to carry Sanya extremely carefully so as not to damage her body any further, and while Sanya was very light-too light for a girl her age, in fact-Yoshika still found it troublesome to climb while carrying both her and the machine gun strapped to her back up the stairs…especially when the amount of steps was well over a hundred, it seemed.<p>

The drive had been disappointingly quiet. She hoped Hartmann would start up some kind of small talk, but she had focused on her mission the whole time, a good distance away from Yoshika. It almost felt as though Hartmann _didn't_ want to talk to her. "That's kind of strange…" she muttered to herself.

At that moment, she reached one stair that was elongated to make a platform. Here she could rest for a little bit before continuing to ascend, but Yoshika passed through it without a thought, feeling as though she shouldn't stop at the very first one.

By the time she reached the platform halfway up the mountain, her legs were burning, and sweat was dripping down the back of her neck. Yoshika gently set Sanya down on the platform, then removed the machine gun from her back and laid down on the worn gray stones herself, letting out a huge sigh as her muscles relaxed. She didn't intend to stay down for very long…in fact, she wouldn't, but for the worst reasons.

The ground suddenly began to shake, and a shiver ran up Yoshika's spine when she thought she heard the sound of a Neuroi…right below her. Picking up Sanya and clumsily putting the machine gun under her arm, she began to ascend the stairs frantically, miraculously never missing a step. By the time she reached the next platform, she stopped so she could take a glance back…and was promptly knocked off her feet by the greatest tremor ever.

Yoshika let out a scream as she toppled, but suddenly realized she was about to fall directly on Sanya, and somehow turned herself around in midair so only Sanya's legs smashed against the steps, though her shoulder screamed out as she did so. Doing her best to ignore the pain as she couldn't spare a hand, Yoshika finally looked back towards the previous platform…and then upwards towards the shadow of a gigantic tower.

The tower was comprised of completely black armor. Most of it was composed of numerous hexagonal facets leading up to a hexagon-shaped prism at the top. Then the panels of the prism flipped out, revealing six beam panels on the other side that floated several inches apart from one another. Yoshika's face paled, and the sweat on the back of her neck turned cold, as the panels began to glow brighter…Finally letting her fear get the better of her, she turned around and sprinted up the stairs as fast as she could, not daring to look back again as she heard stone crumbling.

Beside her, a grove of trees was sheared into bits of wood before you could say "timber". It was a sad sight to see those trees get sliced, as they looked to have been standing for decades, but she had no time to mourn, for the decimated trees and the scorched earth underneath them served to remind what would happen if she let herself get hit by them.

By now, the _torii_ lay just ahead. If she could get to it…if she could just get there for Sanya's sake…

Another beam sheared straight through the wooden gate just as she even thought of such a thing. The wood shattered across the stairs, blocking the way. Yoshika looked around frantically for a way around before she heard the beams powering up again, and as a last-ditch attempt dove into the trees, letting the red lasers shear through the debris blocking the way to the temple. Another beam fired, and Yoshika rushed back out of the trees along the cleared path. Making her way along the rubble was difficult, but she dashed into the courtyard of the temple in seconds.

No one was at the temple at the moment, it seemed. Save for the ruined gate, the Japanese-style temple looked about as tranquil as ever. Of course, there was something strange about it. Standing here, Yoshika could feel something odd entering her senses. It was like her already-exhausted body was slowly revitalizing…

The sound of lasers brought her back to reality, and she hurried off to the right, letting an urn filled with incense get obliterated in her place. Dust that was so fragrant it felt sickening for this sort of situation blew everywhere as she struggled to find a place to hide. A thick-trunked tree which had several strips of paper attached to a rope tied around it was sliced apart in the Neuroi's attempt to keep Yoshika still. The branches snagged onto her sailor's _fuku_ and pulled pieces of it off, but she did not stop regardless of this, and pulled one of the doors of wood and paper open before running in.

The inside of the shrine seemed absolutely oblivious to the chaos outside. Candles burned as the one source of light in the room, but Yoshika didn't have time to look at the intricate designs. The Neuroi was outside, and worse, she had forgotten what to do with Sanya once she got here.

After pivoting her head back and forth, she finally looked down on the ground. There-lines carved out in the floor in the form of a Fuso Witch's shield. She laid Sanya down upon the carving, and the lines glowed with a blue light, as if acknowledging the Witch upon them. A blue glow came off of Sanya's body, and she also emitted a blue glow. Yoshika finally let out a sigh of relief, but then remembered the Neuroi just as she heard beam sounds go off. By now her heartbeat had quickened so many times that she probably would start having heart attacks.

The next moment, there was a scream, and wood went flying everywhere as Hartmann crashed through the roof, her shirt cut open to reveal a terrible gash. Once again, Yoshika felt her heart burst from terror at seeing something like this happen to a friend. "Hartmann-san!" she screamed, running to the side of the top ace of Karlsland.

Hartmann looked up with wide and unfocused eyes, tears clearly running down her dirtied face. Her lips made a movement, but no sound. However, Yoshika was able to perfectly understand what she had mouthed.

_It's useless…_

The gasp Yoshika made was strained and high-pitched, and she stared at Hartmann intently as if to convince herself that such a thing could never happen. Yet Hartmann's eyes slowly rolled back into her head and her eyelids shut. Her body went limp, and…

There was a bright flash of red from the hole in the shrine's roof, and the stone wall was blasted open, revealing the Neuroi in the cloud of dust and debris. It would not stop rampaging. It would keep hurting people again, and again, until it devoured every last inch of the land they loved.

Miyafuji Yoshika could stand it no longer. Picking up Hartmann's machine gun and submachine gun, she glared at the Neuroi with that fierce expression one carries when they are about to kill. Ignoring the weight of the machine gun, she began to fire straight at the prism at the top of the tower, towards the pitch black core that was directly in the center of it.

The Neuroi's panels flipped back to the black sides, protecting the core but also stopping the attack it was preparing. Yoshika continued to fire futilely at it for several seconds, but the moment she stopped, the beam panels flipped back outwards, completely charged.

Realizing she was still near Sanya and Hartmann and thus putting them in danger, Yoshika let out a burst of bullets at the core and started running down the wood floor, the beams redirecting towards the area behind her and blasting wood debris everywhere. As soon as she could get another clear shot at the core, Yoshika fired again, but her bullets completely missed and instead struck the tower's neck.

The Neuroi responded by firing beams once again at her, which launched Yoshika into the air even though they missed. With a scream Yoshika slammed against the wall and ricocheted onto an unwelcoming floor. Both shoulders were crying out and on fire, but Yoshika once again tried to ignore them and fled, gripping the machine gun to her body as though it were her one lifeline.

As she went, the Neuroi slowly slid after her, breaking apart the tiled ground as it did so. More beams flew, shearing apart the walls behind Yoshika and coming towards her as well. The former Witch threw herself to the ground just as the beams passed over her head, but the machine gun went spiraling out of her hands to clatter upon the pavement. Ignoring it, Yoshika stood up again and resumed running, aware of a large shadow and dust falling upon her back. The walls which had been slashed finally collapsed, crushing the machine gun rather than her.

Yoshika then slid to a stop and turned around, pointing the submachine gun this time. Though it took her several tries to arm the gun, she finally got it and began to fire at the exposed core. This time, the Neuroi slapped her bullets aside by spinning the panels around the core, then fired with the panels that hadn't been struck, forcing Yoshika to run and hide behind a statue. She peeked out from behind the statue for a moment and then hurried to hide behind another statue just before crimson light pierced the stone. After that, she squeezed off some more bullets before running back towards the main building. Nothing was going right at all.

The Neuroi began to pursue Yoshika once again, crushing trees and rocks in its path without abandon. As Yoshika ran through the hallways, crimson lasers burned through the ceiling, raining it down just behind her. The Neuroi still could see her; no matter how many times she tried to think of an effective plan, none worked. She needed to find a way to get its core and finish it off for good, or lure it away entirely.

Ascending a flight of stairs, she began to climb up the main building. No sooner had she ascended one portion of the stairs than the walls were cut open, and the steps were crumbled ruins at the bottom of the stairwell. How she hadn't been hit yet, Yoshika really couldn't answer…at that moment, another burst of red flew through the wall and struck her in the leg. Yoshika screamed and collapsed upon the steps, right when another laser cut those down. Even when they began to crumble, Yoshika forced herself to stand up and keep running, and she forced her way up the falling stone.

Her hand barely managed to grab onto the rock that hadn't been sliced yet, but she had no way of pulling herself up without having to drop the submachine gun. Gulping a huge breath down, she let it fall into the rubble and reached up with both hands, pulling herself to safety…though that was only the upper half of her body. The Neuroi launched another beam, and Yoshika tried to run, but the leg that had been hit by the beam was in no condition to run, and she let out another pained yelp as she collapsed, while the laser pierced the wall right next to her. Pulling herself up with the banister nearby, she limped up the stairs in the most pathetic manner.

After struggling through the remaining 5 flights, Yoshika finally dragged herself out onto a balcony and slammed upon the floor, groaning. Her entire body was aching, and she didn't even know if she had either if her legs anymore. However, when she looked up at the sky, her eyes snapped back open with the utmost terror.

There, in the sky, was a gigantic Neuroi warship. Several rectangular niches in it spawned hundreds of missile-like Neuroi. There were no visible beam panels on it, yet the air was dyed with red. It looked as though just about every single Witch in Fuso swarmed the mothership, yet it was useless. Yoshika thought she could even see them getting knocked out of the air one by one. "N-no…" she gasped, feeling her throat constrict once again.

Suddenly, there was a tremor, and Yoshika found herself sliding towards the edge of the balcony. The tower Neuroi had cleaved right through it, and she tumbled straight out amidst the other half, which would crush her surely upon impact. Yoshika's throat ached so much she couldn't scream despite the terror…and then she looked downwards and saw a hole in the roof beneath her. Sanya and Hartmann lay inside, still unconscious.

The tower Neuroi was going to kill them all with one clean swoop. Yoshika's body and mind were so broken she couldn't think about anything except how useless she had been, how everything had been for nothing…and then, an inexplicable anger at her powerlessness and at the Neuroi for destroying everything she cared for finally exploded in Yoshika.

A weight pulled down upon her torso from her left shoulder to right hip-it was a green strap. The gun Sanya had been using was still strapped to it. Without even thinking about it, Yoshika pulled the gun from her back with enough force to break the strap, then pointed it right at the core just as she was facing it. The tower Neuroi charged its beams and fired at Yoshika, confident in its victory.

With an animal-like scream, Yoshika squeezed the trigger, finally sending every single bullet left in the gun directly into the ebony heart of the Neuroi. It screeched as it shattered into white dust, but the beams struck Yoshika, pierced through her shoulder and abdomen, and shattered the upper half of the temple, blasting Yoshika straight back through the walls along with it.

Sanya and Hartmann still lay undisturbed by the rubble upon the magic circle. But groans came from their mouths, and their faces contorted with despair.

Meanwhile, the dust began to settle on the grounds of Ryuudou Temple, and Enzousan was quiet once again.


	3. Scattered Feathers

An earsplitting screech woke Eila up a few inches off the floor of her room, followed by a large pain in her shoulder as she hit said floor. As soon as her body fully came to rest, it was thrown into the air again by a furious tremor, before striking the ground. While she didn't give off much more sound than a hiss, her back screamed in pain.

By the time the screeching and tremors ended and she could think again, Eila felt absolutely battered and exhausted. Just when she was about to check if anything had been broken, a red light flashed from the window. Right then, the tremor resumed and threw her into the air again.

This time the unlucky Suomi was deposited on her stomach, but positioned so that her eyes faced the window. And then she saw several Witches fly by, closely followed by missile-like Neuroi. As soon as they left her vision, she saw another, vastly sized Neuroi, which catapulted an unbelievable number of beams. The wake of the attack threw up dust and scattered Witches in random directions, as well as caused yet another tremor.

Eila began to stand up so she could get to the hangar to help, but no sooner had she gotten on one knee than she fell back onto her face. _What the hell?! My body…it won't move like I want it to…! That and…I feel like I've got no strength left…_

This was probably the result of exhausting herself yesterday. Eila couldn't even stand now, much less use her magic. And somehow, she knew Sanya was still out there in the worst possible danger. How Eila knew she wasn't quite sure; maybe it was just instinct. Grabbing onto the bedpost, Eila forced herself to her feet and began to head down the hallway, using whatever she could as a handhold. This would be the most risky battle she had ever fought.

* * *

><p>Another Neuroi entered Minna's senses a few kilometers away. As it was impossible for her to do anything to warn everyone else without the radio, she simply turned to Mio and shouted for her to take over supervising the group while she got the attention of a few more Witches and hurtled at the Neuroi. As the Neuroi had disabled all radio communications, the fight was getting harder and harder.<p>

Due to the sudden appearance of a mothership-class Neuroi, most of the momentarily-created preparations were absolutely useless. A mothership-class could spawn thousands of small, missile-like Neuroi that overwhelmed the Witches in sheer numbers. Also, it could call upon large-types, but in much less frequency. That being said, it had so many beam panels that one had to wonder how none could be visibly seen outside of combat, and its armor was absolutely monstrous. Only heavy artillery could hope to penetrate a mothership-class, but it had taken the precautions of striking down those _first_, while most of the ships were preoccupied with the large-types harassing them.

Probably every single Witch capable of combat on Fuso was fighting this horrendous hulk of a Neuroi right now. And without communication, a coordinated assault could not be launched. It was an absolutely laughable mess.

Minna's gun flared as she started the attack, and the other Witches' weapons followed suit. Multiple parts of the armor cracked, but the Neuroi scattered their numbers in a heartbeat with its own attack before any severe damage could be done. Everyone had struck different parts of its body, and the Neuroi's regenerative power rendered it all useless.

Seeing every single bullet hole disappear, Minna clenched her teeth in frustration. _If only I had a way to coordinate our attacks better…_ She tried shouting out an order to the others, but they were suddenly attacked by Neuroi missiles, keeping them from noticing or understanding her.

Attacked from all angles by Neuroi, the inexperienced Witches who still hadn't learned much from the previous day's attack milled about in panic and disorder. Working with them was impossible; they weren't able to even land a hit on the mothership.

In the midst of all this, however, Minna could see that one Witch was still mercilessly attacking the mothership without abandon-it was Trude. Her two machine guns burst through the missiles easily, and as soon as she was clear of them, a hand went to her belt and raised an anti-tank missile on a simple, straight handle. Squeezing the handle to activate it, she launched it into the side of the mothership with a violent burst of smoke. The attack left a small hole in the armor, which Trude pounced upon immediately, flying straight at the hole and gunning into it with as much as she could. Just as the hole began to close, she pulled out her second missile and fired into it before continuing the assault.

The attack was going much better than the other Witches' attempts, but Minna didn't feel convinced at all. It seemed too reckless; she had left her back _completely_ open. Incidentally, as soon as Minna thought this, several Neuroi missiles jetted towards Trude from behind without time to spare.

Ignoring the Neuroi behind her which had switched to its defensive configuration, Minna flew towards the missiles and gunned them all down from behind. When struck from this angle, the missiles were virtually useless. Trude didn't notice at all, but her attack could go uninterrupted, at the very least. Feeling relieved for the moment, Minna took her eyes off the lone attacker for one moment-and was greeted with a sight which completely baffled her.

Eila was flying up into the fight beneath her. Her shoulders were sagging, and the gun looked like it was about to drop from her hands. She swerved erratically, and at times her Strikers even failed and caused her to drop, but she still continued to press on. What confused Minna was how she was able to do that after the events that happened the previous day. The Suomi should have expended all her magic to the point where exerting herself in such a manner should have grounded her in a heartbeat. So why was she trying this anyway?

While she was wondering this, Eila pulled up next to her. "Minna…where's Sanya? Were you able to…find her?"

As she spoke, the Suomi's shoulders were heaving up and down, drawing in ragged breath after ragged breath. This sight only served to pile upon Minna's worry. "Eila, it's dangerous for you to be out here in this state!" she chided.

"That…doesn't matter…" Eila's hands clenched even tighter around her gun. "I can't rest…knowing that Sanya is out there…while the Neuroi is invading!"

Before Minna could give a suitable reply, however, the mothership slid back much of its armor to reveal its blood red beam panels. Sensing for the worst, both Witches withdrew as the crimson light lanced out. Minna, however, saw that they hadn't been the only ones that were attacked. Some of the other panicked Witches had been hit and were spiraling out of control, while others had blocked with their shields but gotten struck by some other attack. No one had been downed, but eventually their luck would run out.

"Argh…I was going to check on Sanya and come back, but I guess I've gotta reverse my priorities, huh?" Eila's mouth twitched into a wicked smile as she turned back towards the Neuroi and pointed her weapon, getting ready to fire. Of course, Minna couldn't help but notice at times that it looked as though the propellers on Eila's Strikers were slowing to a halt repeatedly.

Not too far away, Mio was getting chased by some Neuroi missiles. She couldn't turn the gun mounted on her plane around far enough to retaliate, and no one really was paying attention, either, so they couldn't help. However, when Minna noticed and got ready to take action, the missiles suddenly peeled away back towards the mothership, which was glowing the familiar blood red of the Neuroi. The missiles arranged themselves in rings around the mothership and proceeded to fire away at the Witches, as well as letting themselves get struck by Eila's attacks so the mothership would not get hit.

Beneath the chaos, Minna glimpsed some hastily-assembled flak cannons being loaded with artillery shells. With so many Witches in the air, and the Neuroi so close, however, it was evident that their side would not get out of this plan without taking a good amount of damage. _Are they _really_ going to go this far?!_

As if to answer her, the cannons discharged a deluge of acrid smoke as they hurled their payloads upon the Neuroi. The shells burst into clouds of shrapnel as they made contact, but that same shrapnel not only lodged itself in the missiles nearby, but also rained down on the cannons. Taking notice, the mothership let out another pulse of red, and the missiles launched beams towards the flak cannons, blasting them to mere scrap.

Minna did a quick check for if anyone else had been caught up in the failed attack, but to her relief even the rookies had known to shield themselves. On a darker note, the mothership had taken minimal damage from the anti-air weapons. The remaining missiles were sent back out to individually pursue the Witches, having fulfilled their role as shields.

Eila let out a few vibrant curses in Suomi which Minna didn't really want to know the meaning of. "No matter what kind of pounding any number of us give it, it won't take any damage! And the moment it attacks, we're practically all done for! How did things get this bad?!"

"It gets worse…" Minna's eyes locked upon the peak of _Enzousan_ behind them, where a large Neuroi tower had run amok a few moments ago. The problem was, that place was where Sanya, Erica, and Miyafuji all were supposed to be. She didn't want to even begin to contemplate whether it had been destroyed or it was simply moving to its next target. "More and more Neuroi are spawning in. At this rate, no place on Fuso will be safe from their rampage, and we'll still be dealing with this hulk."

As she spoke, more missiles began to shoot out of the holes in the hull. "Hey, why don't we try and find a way to reduce the number of Neuroi we need to deal with?" Eila suggested, indicating those same holes. "That'd sure help a lot!"

"...do you seriously expect either of us to do that on our own? Trying to get these greens to organize is practically impossible!" Minna felt a little bit guilty about how harsh that final part came out, but she was too frustrated to restrain herself from such language.

"Of course I can! Don't you remember my ability?" With this said, Eila turned around and got ready to charge.

"Eila, wait-" Whatever was about to happen, Minna suddenly had the feeling it wouldn't end well. Not when it seemed as though the amount of magic energy Eila had…

As soon as she thought this, the Neuroi slid back its armor again to launch another barrage. It was clear Eila was already seeing where the Neuroi would strike, and preparing to fly out of the way…but then, a blue pulse of light flashed from her Strikers, and the propeller blades slipped back into the tips of her Strikers. The shocked Suomi let out a cry of surprise and panic as her black fox ears and tail disappeared from sight, and her body began to topple. Just as Minna feared, she had run out of magic energy.

Impulsively, Minna tried to rush in and save Eila, but it was too late. Several beams lanced into the Suomi, who couldn't provide even the slightest defense for herself, and at the same time, crashed into the weakening shield that the Wing Commander was barely able to bring up.

As Minna's shield broke and two beams crashed into her midsection, she glimpsed Eila spinning out of control, well out of reach, towards _Enzousan_. She didn't have the strength to scream, not after having taken a hit, but her despair deepened yet another notch as Eila became a speck of light blue against the green trees and finally disappeared from sight. The Witch whose ability nearly amounted to invincibility had just been shot down, and she wasn't able to prevent it in any way.

That wasn't all that had made her day get worse, though. After suppressing the pain as much as she could, Minna looked back towards the Neuroi and noticed that even Trude, who was still fearlessly striking at close range, had been struck by the attack. Suffice it to say that Trude's shield had been doing just as badly as hers. As if this whole thing hadn't been going so terribly already...

It pained her to think like this, but Minna was almost on the brink of giving up.

* * *

><p><em>Brighton, Britannia<em>

Smoke violently jetted from the sniper rifle as a high-caliber bullet lanced out. Raising her hand to a small, ball-tipped lever without really thinking of it, Lynnette Bishop was already aiming her next shot.

The enemy before her was one of the large-type Neuroi that had the ability to switch between offense and defense-based configurations. They had been making frequent usage of these for a while, and it seemed they were even learning the Witches' tactics; neither of Lynne's bullets even struck as the Neuroi changed to offensive form and barrel-rolled out of the way before firing a beam.

A well-timed shield should have blocked the beam…for any other Neuroi, but Lynne knew better now and kicked her legs to the side, moving just a few hairs away from the beam. Even as this happened, her now-unbraided hair was blown backwards as though an intense wind accompanied the laser, and she felt an intense heat on the side of her neck, reminding her of what would happen if she was hit.

The Neuroi was now coming closer. Knowing the sniper rifle wouldn't be good for much longer, Lynne fired the shot still inside the chamber, then stowed the rifle on her back. In its stead she took out a MAT-49 submachine gun, though it was missing the rear sights and the clip was much smaller. Her eyes carefully marked the Neuroi's progress, and her right finger pulled the trigger, sending small bullets hurling in its direction. Despite the fact that the offensive configuration was less armored, however, the bullets couldn't even scratch the armor.

Taking the clip out and putting in a new one with god-like speed, Lynne had to backpedal quickly for fear that the Neuroi would crash into her. But the submachine gun had just proved itself ineffective, even when she had magically enhanced the bullets. And she couldn't pull out her sniper rifle at this close range; the time to reload and aim would kill her. It was a situation in which she was effectively trapped.

Suddenly, from the Neuroi's port side came several bolts of blue lightning, arcing into the armor of the Neuroi and shattering off several portions. This was followed by several rounds from a machine gun lodging smashing their way into the weakened armor, causing the Neuroi to divert its attention elsewhere. Lynne took the moment to stow the SMG onto the holster on her back and take her sniper rifle out, squeezing off another shot that punctured into the hull where it had been struck earlier.

The one who had distracted the Neuroi for these precious seconds was Perrine H. Clostermann, the Gallian Witch who had spent the previous months with Lynne while repairing her home country. However, because of the Neuroi's second furious assault, all of their work had been completely ruined. How that made the young noblewoman feel was something Lynne really didn't want to consider; even though Perrine pretended to be completely fine, Lynne noticed she was actually quite moody and irritable. On some days it was so bad that she was utterly splenetic and might end up tearing anything in the vicinity to shreds if you made the slightest mistake.

_I hope she's okay today,_ Lynne thought as she loaded another armor piercing bullet into the sniper and lifting it to her shoulder. Another shot burst from the sniper, this time shredding one of the points on the ring. It didn't seem to have been a very effective shot, though; the Neuroi's assault on Perrine didn't stop.

Speaking of Perrine, she was wildly dancing through the sky, just out of the Neuroi's attack range. While it seemed like a silly thing to do, in reality it was giving the Neuroi a difficult time, trying to keep up with her motions and not being able to do so. Meanwhile, Perrine attacked at every opportunity, blasting away armor here and there. Going against a Neuroi solo was one of the most unrecommended actions any Witch could have done, and yet Perrine was doing it gloriously.

Dodging slightly under a beam and deploying a shield to dodge another, her hand flashed and sent a burst of lightning into the nose of the Neuroi as she passed by it. Lynne took that as her cue to blast that same spot, but her shot missed and instead struck it in the midsection. Meanwhile, Perrine's machine gun lanced its way into the armor, inevitably some shots striking the Neuroi in that same spot. And then…a flash of red crystal.

"The core!" Lynne shouted this out to practically no one, but she felt her heartbeat quicken slightly, as she primed for another snipe. However, the Neuroi was turned away from her, so she had to make an approximation unless it turned around quickly. Otherwise, it was up to Perrine.

The Gallian darted around the Neuroi, once again only firing a few bullets at a time. Then a red pulse of light zoomed over the Neuroi's body as it transformed into its defensive configuration. Lynne was about to groan in frustration…but then she saw Perrine stow her machine gun in the few precious moments where the Neuroi wouldn't attack. Instead, she pulled her secret weapon from a long sheath at her hip.

Just as the Neuroi began to spring into action, Perrine rushed it head-on. Shields quickly flashed for a moment's defense as she practically bounced between the attacks, until she was right in front of the Neuroi's hull. Her right arm, bearing a silver rapier, drew back into a familiar stabbing motion as she twirled her entire body around once counterclockwise. As blue lightning crackled down the blade's length, Perrine thrust it into the hull with overwhelming force, shattering the hull with one strike. But her attack didn't end there, and her hand flew back behind her shoulder for another strike.

Into the Neuroi's armor the rapier went again, shattering it with precise yet devastating incisions. One couldn't hope to follow Perrine's actions, instead only able to notice the holes after they appeared. The Neuroi had taken three hits before it tried to counterattack, but Perrine put up a moment's shield, ducked low, and gave two fierce slashes which intersected with the holes she had forced in earlier, sending even more armor flying off. Two more jabs blasted a shower of sparking hull fragments past either side of her.

To elaborate, Perrine's magic attack, _Tonnerre_, used magically produced lightning to inflict damage. During their time in Romagna, however, it was accidentally discovered during a "treasure" hunt that she could use conductive materials to help channel it. By focusing _Tonnerre_ in her weapon of choice, the rapier, she could use it to inflict even more damage than before, though at a limited range.

This was enough, though. With one final effort that had enough force to send her arm flying backwards wildly, Perrine launched her eighth consecutive thrust, shattering the armor around the core. Knowing this was the real cue, Lynne's eyes narrowed as she got ready to make the killing attack…at that point, that black plane which should have been in the middle of her sights disappeared.

Lynne was so startled, that she accidentally pulled the trigger and wasted her shot. The bullet almost struck Perrine, who had still been 500 meters away, right next to the Neuroi, when it disappeared. A raging noblewoman was the last thing on Lynne's mind, though…_Where did that Neuroi go?_

Her eyes scanned the horizon carefully. Surely enough, the Neuroi had disappeared into thin air without a trace. The only thing that could be seen was a moonlit sky, ocean, and shore. This seemed like a victory, but Lynne didn't feel right. It couldn't just be this simple…

Just as she thought this, she suddenly noticed a shadow above her…and then, the screeching of the same Neuroi. For that instant, suddenly every emotion she knew she had was replaced with that terror when the slightest hope turns to despair. By reflex, Lynne turned around just in time to see the Neuroi inevitably charging many, many beams. Her face went absolutely white, her vocal cords froze, and her numbed hands almost dropped her empty weapon. There was no time to retreat, and putting up a shield against that attack was useless…

_A shield. _Inspiration struck just as she thought that. Lynne's hands reached out and created her shield, but instead of trying to put more power into it, she instead surged towards the Neuroi, who, in its defensive configuration, was charging its attack directly in front of its nose. Just as it got ready to fire, she struck that energy head-on and caused it to explode, sending her flying and causing the Neuroi to screech as it was violently knocked back. The armor was immediately regenerating, of course, but Lynne had bought herself just a bit of time. While making sure nothing had been damaged beyond repair by doing that, she quickly reloaded and raised the sniper to her shoulder once again.

The Neuroi switched to its attack form and instead opted to ram her. Figuring it wouldn't be good if that happened, Lynne lowered the sniper for a moment and got ready to dodge…it was at that moment that the Neuroi chose to fire all its beams towards the lone sniper. Suddenly, just when she thought she was clear of an attack, now Lynne found a cage of death waiting for her. She had no choice but to let the attacks make contact, lancing through her right arm and torso painfully.

The sniper stabilized herself, but she just knew she was prolonging the inevitable now. Something in her right arm was broken, meaning she couldn't even use her sniper rifle properly now. And with Perrine still quite far away, she had no way of winning against the Neuroi now…

* * *

><p><em>Egyptian Desert<em>

No matter who fired bullets at it, the heavy-type Neuroi wouldn't even take a scratch, and retaliate with beams stronger than any flying Neuroi could provide. None of the Witches flying about had heavy weapons on them, and the squadron of Land Witches would be there for a good 30 minutes. Combine that with the fact that there were 6 of these tank-like Neuroi, and it was pretty obvious that Francesca Lucchini's day was going absolutely terribly.

These Heavy-types were rather rectangular, looking very much like real tanks, except that instead of rolling with treads, they merely floated a few inches off the ground. When they fired the colossal main cannon in the center, which was large enough to fire 80 mm shells-well, needless to say, whatever that thing fired, you didn't want to be there.

The machine gun like weapons on either side of the cannon weren't as powerful as normal beam panels, but the numbers in which they were fired would cause anyone to get mowed down too fast. If this wasn't enough, there were five-barreled mortar-like weapons attached to the "treads", which occasionally shot out black shells which would explode into a shower of beams. All in all, a terrifying foe.

Getting in close was absolutely out of the question now, and by extension, Lucchini's signature heat and light attack. Not having any explosives or magic that could turn the situation around in the desert; they were in a really tight fix. The idea of failure would have shaken Lucchini a lot more, but the same experience had repeated itself so many times now that she didn't really feel any great disappointment.

It was definite that Francesca Lucchini, fighting alongside the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron-the Storm Witches-wasn't really the same as Lucchini from the 501st Strike Witches. Her black hair now fell in a wild disorganization down to her waist, the white ribbons that bound it into twintails neglected. An emblem styled after the Romagnan flag-green and red sections divided by a white cross-was displayed upon her shirt's chest area, but this patriotic symbol looked absolutely out of place after her shirt had discolored into beige due to the sands constantly blowing about. Her bust size had increased, but while Lucchini from the 501st would have made a great deal of excitement about it, this girl did not.

The childish, immature demeanor that she once possessed had eroded away as well, and now she just had fallen into apathy towards her mission. Romagna had been struck down first by the Neuroi, so what did it matter to her now? Even staying alive had started to feel hard for Lucchini. It was a downright depressing change. Even the Storm Witches, who had met her at least once before, were questioning how much the Neuroi invasion had degraded her emotional health; it was even worse than the despair that other Romagnans and Karlslanders they knew had experienced.

Lucchini had not tried to become close to the other Witches at all. While she usually came to interact with them through her "measurements", now the only thing one would expect to see was her staring dazedly off into the distance with a forlorn look. Some wondered if it was because the Liberion Witch who she had depended on for a substitute mother had been called swiftly back to her homeland following the victory in Venezia, leaving the still-young Romagnan in Venezia alone, confused and upset.

Then the Neuroi had smashed their way in, and no Witch who had participated in any of those battles would deny that their confidence had been well and truly shattered. But for someone as young as Lucchini, a crushing defeat such as that which marked the Neuroi's return-directly into her homeland, no less-broke down every bit of hope there had been. And it only got worse with subsequent battles. There was no joy of achievement anymore; each victory felt shallow.

The low and loud thunder-like rumble jolted Lucchini's eyes back into focus. The other Witches shouted warnings as a harsh red light blurred out their figures. Suddenly, the sticky, moist air clinging to Lucchini's skin vaporized, and she couldn't even sweat. Her throat felt parched, and her eyes stung, yet no tears could come. Every patch of skin on her body, even her legs concealed in her Strikers, felt as though it would burn. A twinge of fear echoed through her mind, and she threw herself backwards as quickly as possible.

A moment later, a thin beam of red light burst from the main cannon of the large-type in the front. Of course, it was too bright for anyone to really know about the thin part. Preceded by a rush of even hotter and drier air, it screamed through the air 500 meters to the side of Lucchini and across the barren, flat dessert. As it disappeared into the horizon, the Romagnan's vision finally returned, everything looking darker and bluer than it had thirty seconds before.

The shaken Lucchini finally was able to move her hand to raise a canteen of water which she gulped down vigorously. As it ran over her lips with a wonderful feeling, she felt a slight pain on her lip. Due to it drying out, it looked like it had cracked slightly. No matter how much water was put in or how tightly the canteen was closed, it never felt like there was enough water, especially after that attack.

The Neuroi had begun employing their "Energy Projectors", as they had been dubbed, a few weeks ago. Focused rather on heat radiation to burn away targets that scattered too quickly for their signature precise beams, it was lucky they were seen only once before. Usually, the Energy Projectors were only found in the most colossal and powerful Neuroi. That _six heavy-types_ would have the weapon and be able to use it to its full potential was something that would probably and hopefully only be seen once within the next eight months, depending on how much territory the Neuroi gained.

Luckily, there were drawbacks suffered by the Neuroi. The biggest problem for it was that all weapons and even movement were shut off for 10 minutes after it had fired, and 30 minutes before it could fire the Energy Projector another time. Also, as heavy-types were that much weaker than the Neuroi that normally bore these weapons, three of them had to combine fire to compensate. This gave the Witches a small reprieve from the bombardment. If only it wasn't just half of them that were immobile…

As soon as she began to think this, Lucchini spotted the Gatling gun-like cylinders on the other three were spinning around. The next moment, slender crimson lasers filled the air around Lucchini, and she knew the sheer size of the volley would destroy her shield in an instant. Five small shields stacked on top of each other appeared quickly in front of her, but rather than use it to pierce the enemies as she always had, she instead backpedaled, letting each shield take the hits and shatter until the Gatling guns lost their accuracy.

By the time the attack had ended, Lucchini had lost about 1.5 km of ground, and only one of her shields remained. Normally, if a shield broke, a Witch would lose a good portion of their magic energy, as well as a short attack of nausea or something like that. Due to having shields composed mostly of heat and light with a smaller magic composition, Lucchini didn't suffer as much from having them be destroyed, but as she had lost four already…she was starting to feel a bit unsteady already.

At that moment, the mortars on either sides of those same Neuroi angled upwards, flashed red, and fired a black shell into the air from each tube-30 were fired in total. A shaky breath had just been let out from Lucchini's lips when it was sucked sharply back in as the shells soared past her, higher and higher, until they disappeared to the point where she couldn't even see them as tiny black dots. One moment later, there was a "BANG", and hundreds of red lights radiated out from where the shells had gone, cascading towards ground en masse, not afraid to mow down a few Witches in the process.

Shields hastily constructed just above Lucchini as she headed back towards the ground, catching the powerful beams and shattering almost on contact. Lucchini gasped as each one broke, sending a painful jolt of recoil down her spine. Even when she managed to block the attacks, she found herself plummeting even faster than before, and before she knew it, dust swirled into her face. She barely managed to pull up before becoming a smear on the ground.

There just was no opportunity for Lucchini to rest, however, because when she looked up, she still saw a plethora of beams shooting straight at her. How she hadn't burned out her Strikers was a question no one could have answered as she barrel rolled out of the way of one, then dodged another one by doing a right-angle turn, and barely edged past a third. And so she slowly made her way through the storm of light as she dodged each beam with no less than a 3 cm margin for disaster each time.

Just when she was almost out of the target range, though, one beam came down and sheared her through her left shoulder. Lucchini screamed from the first direct hit as she crashed into the ground, bouncing and rolling. As soon as she came to a stop, her arm felt as though it had been sheared off, and her eyes rolled dazedly about. Then she suddenly heard the familiar whirring sound of miniguns being spun-up and groaned, realizing the Neuroi were practically upon her.

Pushing off the ground, she got ready to do the same backpedalling strategy she always employed around them, but as she started to move backwards, she heard the sound of the beams from the mortar shells still coming down behind her. _That still hasn't ended yet?!_ As Lucchini panicked, she looked back towards the Neuroi and saw that they had her surrounded from three different angles, and they easily could fire upwards if they wanted. Wherever the Storm Witches were, she couldn't hear or see them anymore, so they couldn't help her. She had been lucky before, but this time it was certainly over.

_I at least wanted to see Shirley and Yoshika and all the others again…but none of them can help me here. I'm alone. _A single tear rolled down Francesca Lucchini's cheek as she let out a roar and charged, firing her gun for the sake of a tomorrow that she would never see.

* * *

><p><em>Above the Pacific Ocean<em>

At this point, terminal velocity probably had been reached, causing the wind to rip at her face and hair mercilessly. But Charlotte E. Yeager didn't take any notice of how dangerous her speed was getting. Her eyes were focused on the horizon. Dark clouds had gathered, but Fuso's shore was still starkly clear against the endless ocean.

_I'll definitely_ _get there before the island is obliterated,_ she repeated to herself for the 100th time. But even then, she didn't feel convinced. When Charlotte, better known as Shirley, heard that radio contact with Fuso suddenly had become inaccessible, she put things together and rushed as fast as she could from Hawaii where she had been prior.

Now it was just a matter of speed…but then Shirley wondered about how eager she had been to rush towards Fuso and leave behind the duties she had been called back to Liberion to do. Was she running in to save Fuso or was she just running away from Liberion?

Patriotic feelings had been thrown off into a dark, forgotten corner, she reminded herself, and put on an extra burst of speed to prove it. Even as she told herself this, though, one dark thought remained in Shirley's head about what had happened one month prior. She crushed thoughts about Liberion which would tie to that memory quickly and went on, trying to convince herself further. _Yeah! I'm doing this for Fuso's sake! If they were to get defeated while I was able to help, that'd be just wrong…for it to end up like those other places…_

_Miyafuji always says "Don't give up" or things along those lines. It feels like I've given up on my home country when I say this kind of stuff…but I won't give up on _this_ attempt to protect people. What happened at Liberion is my past now. This is going to happen now and there's nothing anyone can do to magically undo the Neuroi's actions. Something makes me feel like there isn't much time…I'm coming, Miyafuji…!_

**(Note: I wanted to keep what happened at Liberion a secret for a while, but I don't think I quite handled Shirley's dialogue right...it sounds kind of unnatural for some reason. Hard to make thoughts sound natural and at the same time hide exactly what they're thinking about.)**

* * *

><p><em>Ryuudou Temple<em>

Erica's eyes were dazed and unfocused as she looked upwards. A monstrous headache rang through her head, cutting off her entire thought process. Wherever she was, it was dusty and hard to breath. Rubbing her eyes, she saw a roof of wood and red tiles, with a hole directly above her. Turning her eyes to the side, she saw the faint red glow of candles, and a blue hue dying the wooden pillars-

Then Erica snapped her eyes wide open and sat up. That blue hue was a magic circle drawn on the ground, upon which Sanya had been laid down on, looking no better than she had been earlier when Erica had seen Miyafuji cradling her outside the shelter. The fact that the bleeding stopped was only small consolation…the top ace of Karlsland would have thought more about this subject, except then she noticed something else: Miyafuji was missing as well, as was the Neuroi that she had been battling before she fell unconscious.

Pulling her legs out of her Strikers, Erica felt about her body to make sure nothing had been broken too badly. But both her weapons were missing. She definitely had both of them when she had been battling, so that must have meant…

"Miyafuji…did _you _fight the Neuroi?" The moment she thought this, Erica's breathing halted, and she looked around with terror. There was no sign of the tower Neuroi, so that meant she should have won, but…where was Miyafuji now?! "Gotta go find he-" she began, but then suddenly let out a scream and fell on the sharp debris lying about. A dark red liquid began to flood into her view. Erica had taken a really bad hit during the skirmish. At the very least, she wouldn't be fighting again today…

Several faint, ragged breaths came from behind. While it was a relief that Sanya was still alive, it sounded as though even breathing was causing pain to her. Suppressing her own pain, Erica struggled towards Sanya and lay down next to her, the magic circle channeling a blue glow into her body as well. "Sanya…I hope you're alri-" she began to say.

"…she's…hurt…" Those trance-like words made Erica's blood completely freeze as Sanya began to moan in her sleep, tears streaming out of her closed eyes. "Y-Yoshika-chan… fought…f-for m-my…sake …I was…the cause…of it…Yoshika-chan…is…"

"No, no, no, _no_,_** no, NO!"**_Erica's voice slowly escalated in volume and disbelief as she beat the ground repeatedly with her fists. It looked sickeningly childlike for the situation.

After losing her homeland and never being able to scrape up a single decisive victory, even Erica's heart had jaded to failure, and she came to accept it as an everyday thing. One more failure didn't really feel like it would have any ground-breaking impact.

But now, the one who had just died…this was the girl who had finally lifted Trude out of her self-disregard, and the one responsible for saving Gallia and Romagna. Her appearance in the 501st had slowly coaxed the other members like Lynne and Sanya into a stronger bond with one another. And now she had just given her life when Erica was the one who was supposed to have been protecting her...

It felt as though a blade had been driven through Erica's heart, and someone was leaning on it. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" she sobbed, everything but her tears losing their strength. And as the two lay there, shedding their tears, every Witch on Fuso continued to suffer and despair…

_Auf Wiedersehen. Goodbye._

* * *

><p><em>Where am I..? Why does it feel like I'm going down a waterfall…?<em>

_Last I remember, I was fighting the Neuroi…oh yeah, that's right…it blasted me just when I got a clear shot of its core._

_So… that means I'm dead…right?_

The space around Yoshika shimmered with a mysterious as a mysterious liquid-like substance ruffled past her hair. Wherever it seeped into her body, that part numbed and became more transparent. Were her clothes gone, or could she just not perceive them with any of her senses? Yoshika didn't know.

Her arms and legs had faded completely. Now her torso was starting to disappear as well, and she was sure this wasn't a visual effect-it felt as though her body and mind were completely dissolving into this strange substance. Whatever was happening now, it was clear that soon Miyafuji Yoshika would be leaving this world.

But just when Yoshika finally was preparing to close her eyes for the last time, she suddenly thought she could hear some strange sound that finally shot a spark of emotion through her heart. Straining her ears hard to comprehend it over the rushing water that now began to sap away at her sight and hearing as well, she thought she could hear several voices. Some were screaming in terror, others whispering desperate prayers, and still others weeping over dashed hope. But what she did notice was that there were ten voices she heard more than any others, and she recognized all of them…

…these were the thoughts of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, the Strike Witches. Every single one of them was in deep peril, exhausted and demoralized, yet still forced to continue suffering against the Neuroi. Small dashes of hope ran here and there, but were swiftly struck down and replaced with an even deeper despair than before.

Even with her fading body, Yoshika still found tears flowing out of her eyes, and despite the fact that she had felt her hands numb and fade away seconds ago, now they balled into fists from frustration. Her mouth opened into a furious, silent scream. This suffering the Neuroi had brought upon her friends could not be forgiven. She had to get back out there and give them their retribution…

The thoughts froze as abruptly as they started when Yoshika realized just what she was saying. This was not her normal way of thinking. Getting revenge on the Neuroi would do little to ease her own sorrow if they killed her friends first. She needed to get back to them right away and protect them.

…that was what she wanted to believe, but…

_I have no magic power, though…how can I help them? And this place…if it's the gates to the dead, then I have no chance anyway…_

Yoshika's eyes slowly began to close, and her consciousness began to melt into the flowing waters again. As she continued to dissolve, though, she suddenly wondered what it was that eroded her body, and why as she was sublimed into it, it felt as though a familiar power coursed through her veins just before shattering them…

_Ley lines…was that what they were called? The "veins" of the world through which magic energy flowed? Many led to Ryuudou Temple, and that was where I'm sure I died…then that means this place …I was pulled into the Ley line somehow? That means this "water" is actually magic energy…and all the magic energy of the world flows through here at some point._

Now Yoshika's hairs and neck were starting to disappear as well. There was not much time, and she doubted her theory could work, but she had to stake it all on this. Reaching out with her flickering consciousness, she somehow found the magic signatures of each of them in the material world.

_If this is the case…everyone, I will need your help again. If I succeed, I will protect you until my life is extinguished for good._


	4. Takeoff, Once Again

_Ryuudou Temple_

What sounded like a painful, bone-splitting crunch caused Erica to finally lift her dirty, tear-smeared face. Her mind finally snapped back to reality. A war was still going on, and this was but one more losing battle. Despite this, she stood up on shaky feet, leaving her Strikers by the doorway, and struggled to the courtyard outside the temple.

Just when she had exited the doorway, Erica's muscles froze in a tightened position. In the midst of all the rubble, she could see something blue and white lying in a rapidly-growing puddle of red. Running closer, Erica could make out it was a person…no, it was Eila! "You too, Eila…?" she moaned softly.

Though Eila's back was to Erica, she could still see that the Suomi was still awake…and moaning weakly in pain. As Erica carefully rolled her over, her face crumpled, and she let out a short scream. Erica looked over to see that Eila's left arm was twisted at an awkward angle. After Erica moved her into a more comfortable position, Eila's face finally relaxed, and her muscles went slack. Then she opened her violet eyes dazedly before noticing the one who had found her. "H-Hartmann…?"

"Will you make it through?" Erica shot the question forward so fast that she couldn't believe _she_ had said it.

"It doesn't matter…with that thing we're all going to die anyway…" Eila replied, trying to turn away but screaming again as her left arm jostled, and was forced to let her tears be seen in the open. "But…if I can die together with Sanya…that'd be…um, you know…uh…" Eila quickly averted her eyes and blushed, probably realizing how insensitive her remark was. "A-anyway, Hartmann…I heard you were supposed to protect Sanya…where is she?"

At first, Erica started to feel a bit annoyed that all Eila really was thinking of was Sanya, but she banished the thought swiftly and pulled the Strikers off Eila's legs. Then Erica looped her arms underneath Eila's knees and back, trying her best not to disturb the Suomi's arm. "I'll take you to her," she promised, and brought herself to her feet, straining under Eila's weight but nonetheless managing to keep walking.

It wasn't long before she entered the room with the magic circle once again. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Erica deposited Eila a bit roughly onto the floor, causing her to gasp in pain once again. Erica herself staggered against the wall, not sure what to do now. She felt even more drained now, and Eila seemed to be quite pale as well…neither of them could definitely fight. In fact, Erica was sure she was far more tired than carrying Eila would require. A bit further beyond, Sanya had stopped muttering and merely lay there in what looked more like a coma than sleep.

Eila looked a little more relaxed to see that Sanya was alright, but the fact that she believed there wasn't anything they could do now didn't change, and it clearly showed. Was there really nothing to do but wait until the end?

Suddenly, Sanya's magical antennae flashed into view, causing Erica and Eila to look up in shock. Both of them thought she was asleep. Expecting some startling revelation that they wouldn't like, Erica braced herself mentally for the worst. But what she heard instead…

"…our magic energy…some of it was taken…" This made Erica even more confused. Who could do such a thing, and why? Sanya turned her head slightly to the right, towards where there had the temple's tower had been before. "The combined magic signature…it's coming from over th-"

Suddenly, a golden aura surrounded Erica. As she wondered where this ethereal glow could have come from, Sanya began to glow with an emerald light, and Eila with a cerulean light. "Wh-what's going on?!" Eila wondered, looking around as though they could see the source of this. Then she looked down at her right hand, and her eyes widened even further. "Hey, what's this?!"

Erica's eyes shifted to her own right hand, and she saw a mysterious silver symbol etched upon it. It consisted of two, large curved lines curving away from each other, and ten smaller curves attached to the outside of them and curving upward. All these lines resembled a pair of wings. As Erica watched this, the middle curve of the right wing turned golden-the same color as the glow that surrounded her now.

Looking over at Eila's right hand, she saw the same symbol, except instead the second curve from the top of the left wing was cerulean instead. She ran over to Sanya's side, for she had been facing away, and found the top curve of the left wing colored emerald on her hand. "What does this symbol mean?" she wondered aloud.

* * *

><p>Up above, the exhausted Minna suddenly found herself surrounded by a crimson aura as well. "What is this…? It feels like power is flowing into me…" she murmured. And sure enough, her magic energy suddenly skyrocketed to its full level…and maybe even beyond? Then she noticed the same unknown "wings" pattern that Erica and Eila had appearing on her right hand. The 4th feather from the top of the right wing was glowing the same dark red color as she was, while the rest was silver.<p>

Looking up, she saw Trude still continuing her assault, but now a dark grey aura was upon her, and her attacks struck with even greater power. She didn't look tired at all anymore. Activating her power briefly, Minna could see the "wings" pattern on her hand as well. The bottom feather of the right wing was dark grey.

Then a dark violet glow suddenly radiated from another point in the sky. Wondering who or what it was, Minna began to sense for it…and to her shock, saw that it was Mio! The middle feather of the left wing was glowing violet on her hand. Mio seemed just as confused as she was…particularly because there shouldn't have been a way for the magic energy flowing in her body to be present. "She…_regained her magic_?" There were only so many strange things that could happen in one minute.

However, it seemed the Squadron Leader quickly shoved her surprise aside, and began to fly back towards the hangar. "Minna!" she shouted as she passed. "I'm going to land this, alright? It's taken a bit too much damage. I'll be back, though…"

"Then you'd best have found yourself a Striker Unit by then," Minna replied, giving her a thumbs up and a smile. "It's time to counterattack!" As Mio disappeared into the hangar, Minna turned back to the Neuroi to keep fighting…

* * *

><p><em>Egyptian Desert<em>

The sudden sea green glow that entered Lucchini's vision made her think she was hallucinating at first. With the heavy-type Neuroi in front of her, and a shower of beams behind, anything she saw should have been red. She thought at first that it must have been because she had been violently repulsed and practically ripped to pieces by their previous machine gun attack. Yet now, this mysterious shade of green had appeared, and as she looked for its source, she found it was coming from her own body.

The Neuroi, seeming to have sensed for the worst, got ready to fire the Gatling guns once again even before they had been fully recharged. As soon as Lucchini heard the noise of the spin-up, she got to her feet quickly, so to speak, and thrust out her hands. To her surprise, five green shields burst into view just in front of her, growing much larger than her normal shields did. The bullet-like beams hammered into them, but not one of them even broke.

Lucchini's eyes were wide as she gazed at the shields, which didn't look damaged in the slightest. She glanced down at her right hand, noticing a silver light coming from it. There was a silver drawing of wings, with the bottom "feather" on the left wing the same sea green as her shields.

Before she could contemplate this, the small Romagnan realized something else: The three Neuroi before her couldn't fire the Gatling guns a third time in a row. They couldn't afford to use their Energy Projectors or mortars at this close range, either; both would likely end up harming them as well, and it was a foolish idea to use them against one Witch. The other three Neuroi in the back still had a full 5 minutes of recharging.

So who was the one trapped now?

The corners of her mouth arching up in a grin, Lucchini charged once again, her shields compacting into their normal size. They slashed through the armor so fast it was unbelievable, and she didn't even have to fire a single bullet before she had sliced through their core and exploded the Neuroi in the middle. Her awe lasted for about five seconds before she launched herself into another attack, firmly believing that she would, after all, live to see the next day.

* * *

><p><em>Brighton, Britannia<em>

Just as Lynne found herself reaching the end of her imaginative thread, the Neuroi began to make its attack. Red lights filled every part of her vision, increasing so much in brightness that they were starting to look pink…it was then that she noticed the pink aura was coming from _herself_. "Eh?!"

Just as she began to ponder the situation, the sniper remembered the SMG on her back. It pained her to do so, but Lynne let go of the sniper rifle and raised the SMG with her uninjured left arm. Her vision flashed with a pink hue, and before she knew it, a vast amount of information poured into Lynne's mind all at once, and her mind mysteriously registered it all, focusing on the midsection which still had not fully regenerated from Perrine's previous assault. Lynne's arm mechanically raised to point at that spot, accounting for the wind and anything else all at once. The trigger was pulled…and some of the bullets, glowing pink, shattered through the armor to strike the core.

As the Neuroi screeched, its beams went at wild angles, completely missing Lynne. Gaining courage, Lynne let loose a second attack, but the Neuroi turned away once again. Its beams swept out at the sniper, but were met by a pink shield that dispelled them easily. Before the Neuroi could take further action, it was met in the nose by a silver rapier, with dark indigo lightning sparking across it.

The electricity burst straight from the rapier's blade through the Neuroi's entire body, disrupting anything it had been planning to do while blowing the wielder's blond hair backwards from the wake of the impact-it was definitely Perrine. She pulled the rapier back and thrust it forward again, throwing more lightning into the hull just as the previous one ended. Violent bursts of indigo light illuminated the dark sky as Perrine's blade flew around her, striking blows that blasted the Neuroi with such force that it seemed it was breaking to pieces all over.

The hole that Lynne had shot into earlier was forced wide open, and the Neuroi conveniently angled itself in a way that Lynne had a clear shot of it. Her SMG flared one more time-and the Neuroi disappeared into the night, having been shot down for good. "…we…won?" The question was not aimed anywhere in particular, not even towards her wingmate…

…who suddenly lifted Lynne's right arm, not having realized it was broken. Lynne let out a cry, prompting Perrine to release it quickly. "Ah, my apologies…but Lynne-san, you're aware you've got something on your right hand, right?"

"Eh? What is it?"

Perrine responded by holding up her own right hand, which bore what looked like a drawing of wings. The entire symbol was silver, save for the "feather" on the right wing just below the top, which was the same indigo as the lightning she had been throwing around. "The top feather's pink on yours. But I do not remember having this symbol here…nor I was aware of the magic I used just now having such explosive power. It seems…something outside of the scene acted here."

"Hm…I wonder what it was…" Lynne sighed and waved her hand back towards the shore, feeling too tired to contemplate it. "Let's go back for today, Perrine-san…I need to get my arm treated."

"Ah, of course…unfortunately, we can do nothing to keep your arm from moving in ways we don't want it to, so we shall have to fly a bit slowly tonight." As she and Perrine flew carefully back towards Brighton, Lynne looked back towards the moon which had just appeared from behind the clouds, wondering about what had just happened. _This magic flowing in my body…it felt a bit different from before. It was more like that energy Yoshika-chan sends into your body to heal it…does that mean Yoshika-chan has something to do with this?"_

* * *

><p><em>10 km from Fuso's shore<em>

At this point, Shirley could see the mothership-class Neuroi above Fuso. Her hand clenched with a slight amount of fear. The flight to Fuso cost her almost all of her magic. Having to fight something of this size was just terrible in this situation…then she looked down at the hand she was clenching and realized that it now bore a silver symbol styled after wings. _What the-?!_

The next moment, the 4th feather from the top of the left wing turned orange, and light of the same color began to emit from her body. Whatever this meant was something she didn't know, but the exhaustion she had felt a few moments ago was gone. The aching in her muscles was gone, and magic flowed through her body once again. Feeling rejuvenated and invigorated, Shirley began to speed up once again.

Faster, and faster…it then occurred to her that she wasn't even feeling nearly as much wind resistance. _With this, I can…!_

* * *

><p><em>Ryuudou Temple<em>

As Erica and Eila watched the battle and saw Minna and Trude begin their furious counterattack, Sanya suddenly revealed something else that they weren't sure how she knew: "Yoshika-chan…she's still alive…"

"Wait, what?! She's alright?" Hope blossomed once again for Erica. "Where is she?"

"…she's hurt…buried under rubble…there's not much time left…" Sanya's hand lightly began to move, ignoring the numerous bones that had been fractured, and pointed straight towards where she said their magic had been drained into.

Erica didn't think twice and ran in that direction, finding a gigantic pile of rubble in the adjoining room. It was probably a terrible idea, but there was only one way to clear it fast. "_Sturm!"_ she shouted, but what came out wasn't what she expected at all. A golden vortex of wind swirled around her, flashed, and flew outwards, obliterating the rubble and blowing it away to the far corners of the room. There! At the bottom of it all was Miyafuji. Bloodied and battered, to be sure, but she was definitely still alive…

As Erica was thinking this, she suddenly noticed the same "wings" symbol on Miyafuji's body…or rather, a much larger version on her back. No feather glowed on it; instead, the larger curves that could be considered the wings themselves were dark blue. Even stranger, orange dog ears stuck out of her hair, and an orange tail from her back. These were the features of the _Shiba Inu_, Miyafuji's familiar…but how were they there if she had no magic? Did that mean…?

As she wondered all these things, Erica noticed Miyafuji beginning to stir and open her eyes. "H-Hartmann-san? T-thank goodness…you're alright…" She began to try and rise, but a moment later, she collapsed again.

"Whoa!" Erica caught her just in time and pulled her up to her feet. "Hey, shouldn't you be concerned that _you're_ alive? And more importantly, how did you regain your magic? And how-"

"I can't really think right now…could you hold on with the questions?" Miyafuji smiled and gently wrapped her arms around Erica's neck. "You know that magic circle which you were placed upon when you woke up…? Could you take me there?"

Erica began to nod, but suddenly heard a creaking noise. Looking up, she saw the floor above them, now with a gaping hole lined with tons of rubble at the edges. And now that she had blown away the rubble on _this floor_, that meant...Frantically, she ran out of the room before the second floor collapsed and sent more stone falling in. She didn't stop sprinting until she was back in the room with the magic circle where Eila and Sanya were.

As Erica laid Miyafuji on the magic circle, and the dark blue glow surrounded her again, she let out a relaxed sigh, ignoring the shocked expression Eila was giving her over how she apparently regained her magic. "So…ano…I took some of your magic energy to keep myself from dying for just a moment…did anything bad happen to you all?"

"Anything bad that happened to us happened before that," Eila replied after finally calming down enough to answer the question. "But how did you do it?"

"Well…" Miyafuji's eyes looked aimlessly up towards the ceiling. They seemed clouded and confused. "I felt myself in this weird waterfall, but then I thought I heard you all screaming, or in pain, or anything like that…it made me frustrated because I couldn't help any of you. But that place I ended up…it was actually inside the ley lines beneath us. All the magic energy flows through them, so I kind of found yours and took some of it…I guess they somehow got me to regain my magic as well as keep living for a bit longer. I made you all worry, didn't I…?"

"Of course we were worried!" Erica sighed. "What kind of unconcerned jerks do you think we are?"

"…well, I would've felt bad if I made you worry too much," Miyafuji laughed, sitting up. To everyone's awe, while her clothes were still blood-spattered, there were no actual wounds on her body anymore. "I'd best get to healing you all, though…" Her hands began to glow with the dark blue of the ocean once again, as she crouched over Sanya. The light that washed over the Orussian's body cleared it of all the bruises and cuts, and repaired her hands' bones as well.

Sanya's eyes remained closed, but something about her face made her look less tense than before. Miyafuji smiled at this sight, then went over to Eila, carefully moved her arm into a better position, and healed that as well. "Rest up, okay?" she told her gently.

"Eh?! I-I can still fight!" Eila sat up quickly as if to prove it. "They need our help anyway, so we'd better get there fast…"

"Definitely…" Miyafuji's hands passed over Erica, healing her much lighter injuries quickly. "Hartmann-san, I don't have a Striker Unit or a weapon…do you think you could fly me over to the base so I can find one right now?"

Erica nodded and grabbed the Strikers that had been lying on the ground, pulling them on as though she had been waiting for the moment as long as she could have possibly. "Okay! Let's go!" Ignoring the truck that was still at the bottom of the mountain, she hooked her arms beneath Miyafuji's armpits and flew towards the base. One last chance had been given to the Witches, and they definitely couldn't let it slip.

* * *

><p>As Eila watched Hartmann and Miyafuji disappear from sight, she turned back to get her own Strikers, but then suddenly noticed Sanya rising just barely off the ground. "Sanya-? You're awake?" she asked hopefully. "You aren't hurt or anything, are you-"<p>

"I'll be alright," Sanya replied, in a voice surprisingly devoid of stammering. "Eila…our greatest weakness right now…it's not just a difference in power. The Neuroi's chaff won't let us communicate, so…forming a counterattack is virtually impossible."

"Eh…?" Eila had totally not been expecting this sort of talk from Sanya the moment she got up. Putting that aside, however, she continued, "Okay, but what are we supposed to do about it?"

Sanya tried to rise to her knees, but quickly fell back down, and had to be supported by Eila. "I think I might be able to…counter the chaff somehow. But it'll require us to go higher…high enough so that we won't be affected by it. Eila…I can't fly right now…do you think you could carry me?"

At first, Eila was tempted to say "It's dangerous", but the determination Sanya was displaying, compared to the weak and ephemeral spirit she normally showed these days, was so different that Eila found she just couldn't simply say no. "…well…I'll try," she finally replied hesitantly.

A minute later, Eila was rapidly ascending, with Sanya cradled in her arms. Sanya's antennae flashed above her head, checking for when they would get out of range of the chaff. Soon they would be beyond the cloud layer. Of course, Eila had a mysterious premonition that something would go wrong…

Right as she began to glance back, an image flashed through her mind, showing one of those transforming Neuroi bursting through the clouds just above her. Somewhat panicking, she sped up and veered off course. "Eila…?" Sanya was giving her confused looks, but Eila continued on, away from where she saw the Neuroi. Then that same Neuroi burst out of the clouds, a good distance away from them.

As the Neuroi sounded its terrible screech, it began to viciously assault them. Sanya's arms tightened around Eila's body as the storm of red slashed the air around them. The reminder that her dearest could die very easily if she made the slightest mistake made Eila suddenly begin to feel the stress of the situation. Despite the fear that began to choke her again, she managed to compose her mind just in time to slip past a beam moments before it could strike her body or Sanya's.

With just a bit more confidence, Eila retreated into a tall, thick cloud, where the Neuroi could only hope to shoot wildly. The blood red lasers burst through the white veil behind her, but they were well away from where she actually was. With a smirk, she flew skywards, leaving the lances of red to keep striking the area just below her. "We're almost there, Sanya!" she declared triumphantly.

Sanya was about to smile, but then her antennae flashed red, and she let out a gasp as her head snapped to the left. "Eila! It's entering the clouds…right next to us!"

"What?!" Eila had no time to react before the Neuroi, in its bulky defensive form, burst into view. She only could barely maneuver herself so that her back was facing it before it rammed into her and sent the two Witches spinning out of control, back in the open. As Eila struggled to retake control, Sanya continued screaming, her arms a vice-grip around Eila's neck. In that time, the Neuroi hurtled out of the clouds, and, detecting certain victory, changed back into its offensive configuration and opened fire, with all the beams pointed at exactly one point…

Eila's teeth gritted as she watched the beams come closer and closer. In a moment, she would be dead from this cage of light. She could only watch the beams close the distance and put on a futile extra burst of speed…and then, before her eyes, they suddenly slowed to a standstill. Sanya had completely frozen in a bizarre pose with her legs thrown backwards into the air, and her mouth wide open in terror. However, Eila herself was still falling in normal motion. At first, Eila began to wonder what was going on, before noticing that a cerulean aura was surrounding her again. "Is this…something I'm doing?"

Just as she began to wonder this, everything began to revert to normal speed, but the beams speared the point that she had been at a few seconds ago uselessly millions of times. Sanya had enough time to stare before suddenly diverting her attention to the Neuroi, a full glare in her eyes. The emerald aura surrounded her again, and her antennae flashed, even brighter than before. And then, the Neuroi suddenly ground to a standstill, screeching as though in pain. Neither one could contemplate their new abilities for long, though, because at that moment…

_"YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

Eila and Sanya jumped at this bizarre battle cry just as a streak of orange soared towards the Neuroi. It didn't slow down at all, but instead slammed into the Neuroi's side and straight through the other end, snapping the black plane completely in half. The two, hugging each other even more tightly now, were buffeted by fierce winds that almost blew them back into the clouds along with the fading white fragments. "What the _hell_ was that?!" Eila demanded.

Shortly afterwards, the culprit flew up behind them. It turned out to be a Witch with orange hair, a red formal-looking jacket over a white shirt, and bunny ears sticking out of her head. In other words, Charlotte E. Yeager, one of their other comrades! "What are _you_ two doing here?" she asked, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"We could ask _you_ the exact same question!" Eila retorted rather curtly. "More importantly, everything's going on _beneath_ the clouds at the moment, so…"

"Way ahead of you!" Shirley nosedived into the clouds just as she was saying "you".

Eila watched Shirley disappear below them before turning back to Sanya. "So…how are you going to get past the chaff up here? In fact, wouldn't it be a _worse_ idea to be up here because of the clouds?"

Sanya shook her head. "We needed to be above the battle. Eila…I think I might be able to pick up the radio waves, even with the chaff and the clouds. Even now…it seems I can pick up any signals within a 500-meter radius around me…objects which would normally cause interference don't have any bearing anymore. They can't communicate with each other, but I can surely speak to them. Hang on, let's try it…"

* * *

><p>Yoshika and Hartmann burst through the doors to the darkened hangar, looking around quickly for spare Strikers or weapons. They found two machine guns easily and picked them up, but Yoshika didn't see a Striker Unit around. Even worse, in Romagna she had to use the <em>Shinden<em> model because no other models could withstand her sheer magic capacity. Her new power level probably wouldn't let her fly with any ordinary Strikers…

Erica flew about the hangar, eyes darting about left and right. "It's useless! I can't see one, either…"

"We came all this way, and we still can't find a way for me to fly again?" Yoshika's frustration began to well up again. But then their thoughts were interrupted as a biplane descended towards the hangar. It was in a sorry state, but it landed easily inside the hangar. And the one piloting it was… "S-Sakamoto-san?!" she gasped as she dashed over.

Sakamoto leapt out of the plane with a smooth motion. "I told you I had other ways of fighting," she reminded. "But all the same…" Then the black ears and tail of a Doberman slipped into view. "I'm not sure how, but I regained my magic. It'll be better if I use a Striker unit now."

"You…regained your magic…?" Yoshika began to think hard about that, and then came to one conclusion. "Ano…Sakamoto-san, do we have anymore _Shinden_-model Strikers?"

A surprised look was what she got in response. "Yeah. I'll show you where they are in a moment…but why would you need them?"

Yoshika gave her a radiant smile. "I think the reason you got your magic back…" Her own familiar's features slid into view at this point, which actually startled Sakamoto quite a bit. "…was because of something I did."

After finally overcoming her surprise, the Squadron Leader sighed with a resigned smile. "I'd better not ask right now…alright then, right this way." She walked into the hangar, where Hartmann was still searching desperately. "Hartmann, you're back already?"

"Huh?" Hartmann turned back, and was surprised to see Sakamoto…especially with her familiar's features out. "Squadron Leader? You got your magic back? How-"

"I-It's a long story…" Yoshika laughed as Mio went into a room that neither she nor Hartmann had noticed. "The bottom line is, the magic of the ley lines that poured into me was too much for me to handle. I ended up sending it into all of you somehow...I didn't think it'd cause Sakamoto-san to regain her magic, though…"

"This is getting really confusing, but screw that," Hartmann sighed, flying back to the place where the guns were stored to grab another gun for Sakamoto.

At that moment, Sakamoto reemerged from the room carrying the familiar Strikers with larger wings on the sides. "The _Shinden_ is a special Striker unit, so its storage is a bit more secure. Sorry if that took too long." She carefully set them down in front of Yoshika. "I didn't have enough hands to make one trip, so I'll need to get my own Strikers as well…you two had better head back out now."

"_Hai!_" Yoshika put on the Strikers swiftly, nodding to Hartmann with a confident smile. "Let's go!"

A dark blue circle appeared beneath the tips of Yoshika's Strikers, shaped like a ship's wheel. "Miyafuji Yoshika, taking off!" she declared, and six blades whirled out of the tips of the _Shinden_, propelling her back into the sky she remembered so fondly.

Then, Minna flew up next to them as though she had been expecting their arrival. "Welcome back, Miyafuji-san!" There were still tones of surprise in her voice, but it was clear she had decided to ignore it all for the time being. "Glad you could join us again!"

Yoshika nodded vigorously. "I'm happy to be back too, Minna-taichou! Eh…where's Barkhorn-san?"

Minna's smile froze for a moment, but Yoshika didn't notice as she pointed towards the Witch who was attacking a little too close for comfort. "She couldn't wait for you, I suppose."

Then an orange streak of light burst through the clouds, blowing up a gale that nearly knocked them off course, before pulling up alongside them. "Hey, Commander Minna! Been doing well, I assu-" Her voice trailed off when she saw Yoshika. "_Miyafuji?!_ What t-why-h-how the _hell_ are you flying?!"

Yoshika groaned when she realized she'd have to explain to yet _another_ person. "I'll tell you later." This felt like the fourth time she had said this, for whatever reason. Still, it was wonderful to see yet another comrade joining them...and then something occurred to her. "Wait a moment…Shirley-san, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Oh, I flew all the way from Hawaii!" This ridiculous reply was said so casually that Yoshika didn't know if she was to believe it or not. "Because I conveniently went there a few months after getting called back to Liberion!"

"That seems a bit strange," Minna commented with a frown of deep thought. "At that point, the wars were still in Europe. Hawaii is the _least_ logical place to be…"

"Uh…d-don't overthink it!" Shirley's words came out rather hurriedly. To Yoshika, it sounded like she didn't _want_ something known…something even she wouldn't like to remember. "M-moving on…let's rip that Neuroi to shreds, shall we?"

Though Shirley looked a lot more unsettled from what Minna had said, Yoshika ignored it. "_Hai!_ So…what's our plan, Minna-taichou?"

Minna still seemed to be deep in thought, but she replied, "There isn't really a plan at the moment. Without our intercoms working, we can't communicate, so any plan I can come up with won't work because we aren't coordinated…"

Of course, she certainly wasn't expecting their intercoms to suddenly crackle and sound with a faint, high-pitched voice: "Can anyone hear me? This is Sanya V. Litvyak…" Everyone looked at each other with gaping mouths, wondering how their intercoms were working now of all times. "I'm above the clouds right now…the Neuroi's chaff can't affect me now. It seems I'm able to pick up your signals now…but it's impossible for you to speak directly to each other, so…I'll try and relay information between you all."

"…that problem solved itself rather fast," Minna commented, eyes wide. "Um…Sanya-san, please ask the others to take down the missiles and other Neuroi off our tail. After we've cleared out most of them, we'll be able to divert more attention to the mothership." As Sanya began to relay the command, she turned to the other three around her. "And you all…I'm sure you can see those slits which the missiles are coming from, yes? We'll need to start attacking those first. Are you ready?"

"Roger! This should be easy!" Shirley sped ahead of the others towards the far side of the mothership. Other Neuroi began to follow her, but the Witches rushed to gun them down. Minna and Yoshika flew to another one of the missile launchers, with the former constantly giving out new orders to strengthen everyone's formations. More missiles began to pour out just in front of them, but Yoshika deployed her shield and shoved violently into them, destroying the missiles on contact.

A third launcher was approached by Hartmann, and before it could even begin to fire, she activated _Sturm_ and shredded the Launcher to pieces. Her attack didn't stop there, however, and she tried to force her way through the hull even further.

As Yoshika and Minna continued to gun at their own target, the missiles and other Neuroi were exploding into white fragments like wildfire. The sight was awe-inspiring to Yoshika as with each passing moment, the Neuroi's black frames were erased from the sky with more speed.

"Shirley-san, how's it going on your-" Minna began to ask, but then the Witch in question dove past them, with an even greater quantity of missiles chasing her. "Oh, dear," the Wing Commander murmured with a bit of surprise and worry. "I didn't think this would happen…"

"It's alright! Let these keep chasing me!" Shirley shouted over the radio, much to their shock. "I've got this! Their homing abilities are pretty great, yeah, but they weren't expecting THIS!" As they heard her declare this, Shirley's body was covered in an orange aura, and her body began to speed up. The missiles couldn't follow her so easily, and she soon long outdistanced them as she began to ascend.

Then crimson light flashed into view as Minna began to sense for what she was doing. "I see…she's magically altering the airflow so there's zero air resistance. This increases her speed limit even further…"

"Minna-taichou! It's starting to regenerate!" Yoshika's words seemed to startle the Wing Commander, but she quickly brought her gun back up and resumed attacking the launcher. At the very least, Yoshika was causing the launcher to do much more damage to itself because she was blocking the missiles at point-blank…but it was beginning to cost her more magic energy, and she wasn't sure how long she could keep it up.

Meanwhile, the missiles that had been following Shirley turned and tried to follow their target…but she moved so fast in an arc that they only managed to crash into its side, blasting apart several more launchers. "Ha! Take that!" Shirley laughed, before reversing her body's orientation and dive-bombing back down towards the mothership, all guns blazing.

Finally, the launcher Yoshika and Minna were dealing with exploded. "How many launchers are left?" Yoshika asked breathlessly, having blocked far more explosions than she was comfortable with.

"Several more…about 10 I'd say. But it's a bit inconvenient having to take them down now…" Minna's voice trailed off when she suddenly began to sense something else. "Wait, what's _she_ doing he-"

The next moment, a line of white light slashed the air and struck one of the launchers, encasing it in ice. Yoshika stared in shock as another streak, red this time, burned into view and blasted into one of the other launchers, causing flames to ravage it and all the things around. Then, another Witch flew up next to them. "Didn't expect me, did you, _Onee-chan?_"

Now Yoshika just felt confused. The other Witch had waist-long red hair and wolf ears, just like Minna…her face even looked the same, despite it seeming more mischievous than the motherly feeling she was familiar with. However, her shirt was dark blue instead of the olive green one Minna wore, and her Strikers were the same color, though with red lining. All her familiar's features were also white rather than gray. Also, her eyes were ice-blue instead of Minna's red, and her bangs were arranged slightly differently, more resembling Hartmann's. "Etto…w-who are you?"

"…I won't ask how you got here so fast," Minna sighed, before turning back to Yoshika. "Miyafuji-san, I didn't tell you about her before…this is my sister, Rinna Illyasviel Wilcke. As I'm never always able to know where she is, I didn't think of bringing her up…"

"Hey! Barkhorn mentioned _her_ little sister, why don't I get that treatment!" Rinna crossed her arms with a pouty expression. It was so strange seeing someone that looked like Minna having these kinds of faces.

"Hartmann didn't mention hers to anyone until they all met her, you know. Stop complaining." Minna seemed to be getting increasingly annoyed each minute for whatever reason…"Anyway, right now we need to focus on defeating this Neuroi. Miyafuji, let's keep moving."

Just as she said that, however, she began to notice yet another person coming into her sensing range. This time, however, she looked back with a welcome expression. The one who was pulling up next to them was Sakamoto! "Sorry I'm late," she apologized. "Let's take this thing down!"

Sanya's voice buzzed through the radio yet again. "Everyone! Most of the missiles and other Neuroi have been taken down at the moment. Focus on the mothership itself! Ah…Minna-taichou, any other commands you wish to give?"

"Yes, Sanya. Tell them if the missile launchers haven't been taken down, focus on them first." As Minna finished the command, she glanced to Sakamoto. "Mio, where's the co-eh? You don't have your eyepatch anymore, and your right eye is normal colored…"

Before she could finish, _both_ of Sakamoto's eyes flashed with the electric purple that her right eye used to be colored. "I see it…the core's towards the back. Well, now we at least know where to look." As she said this, her eyes lost the violet shine. "It's a manually activated power now, I guess. That'll take some time getting used to…" Somehow, her hand ended up moving to grasp Minna's. "Still, it's good to be back." Minna blushed a little, but she still smiled in return.

Hartmann flew up nearby as well, arms folded in annoyance. "Is everyone going to sit here the entire time or something?"

"Ah-!" Everyone flew off to take down the missile launchers right away, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

This time, Yoshika found herself flying alongside Rinna while Mio and Minna dove to take down a target on the bottom of the mothership. "Don't get left behind!" Rinna called as she pointed her gun…which looked like a cross between a pistol and a longsword. As Yoshika wondered how she could still fire it like a gun without using the other hand to support it, she fired one bullet. The launcher froze quickly, and she rushed in without delay, this time having adjusted her grip so that she was holding it more like a sword. Her blade slashed into the frozen armor, shredding it in seconds.

"W-wow!" Yoshika almost forgot herself with the awe before remembering to do her part and activated her shield, ramming into the other launcher just as it was about to fire a missile, critically damaging it. This let Rinna sweep in and blast it with a bullet that exploded with fire, burning away what was left quickly. "We did it!" Yoshika didn't really have time to celebrate her achievement, though, because…

"I said don't get left behind, you know!" Rinna was already ascending to attack something else. Her Strikers were absurdly fast, so Yoshika had to work hard to keep within a few meters of her. Rinna pointed her gunsword again, but just before she could pull the trigger, the hull slid away to reveal the beam panels. "Oh, _crap_," she groaned, and began to put as much distance between them as possible.

Yoshika intercepted, however, and thrust out her hand to activate a shield. All the lasers slammed into it with enough force that it shook her; however, the two Witches themselves were not hurt. She then proceeded to open fire with her own weapon, but it couldn't do nearly as much damage. Why something that fired single shots could do more damage than her machine gun's many consecutively fired bullets was anyone's guess.

As she thought this, Rinna raised her hand, and that same spot Yoshika was firing at froze, causing her bullets to shatter it more effectively. It still wasn't destroying nearly as much as Rinna's gunsword, but at the moment, it was doing quite reliably. As soon as the crimson light faded, Rinna flew past Yoshika's shield and fired a burn shot, destroying the adjacent missile launcher.

Beneath them, Hartmann was flying alongside a Witch towards where Sakamoto indicated the core was. Trying to see the Witch from behind, Yoshika guessed it was Barkhorn, but she didn't have much time to pay attention, and was forced to keep moving at Rinna's lightning pace.

Suddenly, a large-type Neuroi was spawned right in front of them. Rinna let out a yell of panic as she slammed into its frame and ended up dazed, giving the Neuroi a very important yet easy target. Yoshika rushed in, sensing for the worst, and just as the Neuroi began to charge its attack, she slammed her shield point-blank into it, causing the energy to go wild and explode. While the hull was shredded apart from the explosion, Yoshika found herself staring straight at the core and opened fire, but the Neuroi transformed just before she could do this, leaving her right in front of its nose.

Shirley appeared from the other side of the Neuroi and shot several bullets into the core, which had been exposed in a different part of its body anyway. As the Neuroi shattered, Shirley gestured downwards. "All the launchers have been taken care of. Everyone's going to rush the core now! Come on!" With this said, she dove towards the area where Barkhorn was blasting away at the hull with the last reserves of her ammo.

"Looks like it's time to end this. Come on!" Rinna grabbed Yoshika by the hand and sailed down towards the place where all the Witches were gathering.

As loads of gunfire slashed into the armor, the mothership tried to retaliate with its array of beam cannons. Yoshika quickly constructed a shield and blocked the worst of it, but her shield couldn't take anymore and finally broke, causing a painful jolt to course up her spine and left her in a daze. Luckily, the others were able to deflect the rest with their shields.

Meanwhile, Hartmann grabbed onto Shirley and rocketed past the other Witches, Shirley glowing with an orange radiance as she neared Mach 2 and Erica displaying her own golden light as a fierce tornado of magic whipped up around them. They blasted into the side of the Neuroi, mercilessly tore through its armor, and ended up going the other side-but ended up missing the core. "Darn it, I miscalculated," Shirley muttered.

"Then leave it to me!" Rinna declared proudly. A bright red aura surrounded her, and before they knew it, the air itself was combusting, yet Rinna seemed completely unaffected. Then the flames reared up into the shape of a wolf's head, which seemed to howl as Rinna declared, "Burn Bullet!"

Minna seemed to be shouting out something to her sister about forbidding her from doing it, but Rinna didn't listen at all and instead angled her Strikers backwards. A blue pulse blasted out from them as she charged headfirst into the armor, burning it away in a vicious inferno. Not far behind, Barkhorn reversed the ammo-less guns in her hands, slamming them into the scorched armor, while Mio raised a katana over her head, launching a shining wave of white light from its tip. The combined attacks blasted away the armor in massive quantities, finally revealing the core!

However, the armor over it was fast regenerating, and the newer Witches couldn't quite land a decisive hit on it. The mothership, in the midst of all this, had suddenly produced yet another massive cannon on its underside. Lines of red light traced across its hull as it charged the weapon…at that moment, Sanya's voice crackled onto the radio again. "Look out! It's got an Energy Projector!"

_That_ shook a bunch of the Witches into frightened expressions. Yoshika herself began to feel a little bit of panic from watching them… "Ne, Minna-taichou…what's this 'Energy Projector' thing?"

Minna's hands were tightly clenched, and cold sweat was running down her face. "An Energy Projector…is the ultimate weapon any Neuroi so far has possessed. Rather than launch a normal beam…it will unleash radiation so hot that…" At this point, the reflection of the light on her sweaty face suddenly disappeared. "…it is likely everything within 300 meters will be melted to nothing."

Just as Yoshika began to feel fear take its clench as intense as it had earlier when she had fought the tower Neuroi, her eyes suddenly began to sting, and she tried to cover them. It was absurdly hot, yet she wasn't sweating…Somehow managing to force her eyes open slightly, she looked towards the ocean and thought she could even see the water level receding.

The light was becoming too bright to look at now. It was only a matter of time before it would fire…at the last moment, Yoshika decided to take one final chance and threw out her hand, reconstructing a shield from scratch, just in front of all the Witches.

Faint traces of emerald light seemed to race through the air to counteract the red light. Sanya was saying something about limiting its power and for everyone to layer their shields to stop it…sure enough, dozens of shields spread over Yoshika's, creating the most multilayered defense possible. And finally, the decisive moment came as the Neuroi let out a roar…

The heat came in full force against the stacked shields. So intense that it began to break some of them before it even made contact, the Energy Projector slammed against the defense and still caused its effects to be felt on the other side. Yoshika thought she could even feel her skin drying out as several Witches were forced to give up, unable to hold against it any longer. Desperately, she tried to increase the power to her own shield-but too late, it shattered before her eyes, causing an even more painful jolt to surge through her body. Now only a few people were left…

Through her pain-crazed mind, Yoshika could see the rest of the shields being plowed through like nothing, until a lone crimson shield was in front of it. Or more specifically, Minna's. Her eyes were surprisingly calm, compared to those that Yoshika had seen a few moments ago. However, no amount of bravery would save her when the shield was struck…well, that was what people thought.

The Energy Projection finally slammed against Minna's shield in full...but her crimson light was what burned through the air rather than the blood red of the Energy Projector's. Minna's face was contorting in pain, and her body was slowly being forced back, but she still held firm…and then, before everyone's eyes, the attack disappeared, leaving the terrain looking almost unscathed, save for a few singed trees. Minna had somehow blocked the blast.

Just as they were wondering how, Minna doubled over, gasping in pain. Red lines of light flew through her hand and coursed through her body as it spasmed wildly. Then her shield suddenly reappeared, followed by the blood red laser they had seen a few moments ago _flying out of it._ This slashed into the Neuroi's still-regenerating armor, penetrating it in a heartbeat, and shattered the core.

And then, in a shower of white and an earsplitting screech, the threat above Fuso was obliterated.

The silence that followed was so great that one could hear a pin drop. Everyone stared around in a dazed stupor, unable to believe what they had just achieved. Then, with glances around towards their comrades, several remarks of "We won!" rang through the air, and everyone else quickly joined in with the cheering.

Yoshika, now lying on the ground, ready to faint, watched them cheer with a numbed, blank expression. It wasn't that she was indifferent, but so many things had happened today that it just didn't really feel believable now. The sweetness of having protected her homeland would probably eventually be felt, but for now all she really wanted was a rest.

Meanwhile, the other members of the Strike Witches descended around her. A drowsy Sanya had draped her arms around Eila's shoulders, while Minna was leaning on Sakamoto for support. "We survived today, didn't we…?" Yoshika thought she felt something in her throat crack; she really needed a drink.

"Yeah. But I don't think their attempts to invade Fuso will end there. The island will likely be put on full alert for the time being," Sakamoto replied, helping Yoshika to her feet. "For now, though, we can relax and recover."

"B-but…w-we'll need to g-go back…" The stammering in Sanya's voice had returned for some reason. She probably was just as tired. "…t-to Orussia…"

"Well, while we're together, why don't we all head over there when we've got the chance?" Shirley suggested. "I've got nowhere to go at the moment."

"Yeah…I'm sure we'll be able to save Sanya's homeland, too…" Yoshika agreed, her enthusiasm unable to be stamped out by her exhaustion. Sanya looked somewhat surprised, but she just closed her eyes and smiled, resting her head against Eila's shoulder with a peaceful expression.

"…now that that's over…I think you owe us an explanation in greater detail?" While Minna's voice came out raggedly as well, there was something in her tired eyes that made Yoshika feel like "no" or "later" was an option. She collapsed back onto the grass with an exhausted groan.

* * *

><p><strong>Aaand...this annoying series of fights is finished. ARGH FINALLY.<strong>

**To those who don't know: Rinna is the OC of another author who I'm (Internet) friends with. Currently, she is known as Winter Red Tears. For reasons I doubt I'm allowed to specify, you cannot find Rinna in any of the stories she has now, so...hopefully I can keep this OC alive until Winter Red Tears decides to use her again.**


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